/' 


IT  BOCA'S 'ATTITUDE  VIUT  CoJlMKNDKD  A  TEMPORIZING  POLICY. 
(See  page  255.) 


TN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S 
COUNTRY  <*"  A  NOVEL  <*<  BY 


CHAKLES  EGBERT  CKADDOCKer^ 
< 


TKHitb  irilustratfons 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 
1891 


Copyright,  1891,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 


All  rigJdt  reserved. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


"  IT   WAS    AN    ATTITUDE    THAT    COMMENDED  A  TEM 
PORIZING  POLICY" Frontispiece. 

"LKETLE  MOSE" 3 

'"WAR — WAR  HE 'QUAINTED  WITH  ENNY  OF 'EM ?'"  Facing         6 

"THE  SADDLE  BORE  NO  RIDER" "             94 

"  '  YES,  SIR,  TER  KILL    HIM   EF   HE  AVAR   TER   INTER 
FERE  WITH  ME  !'  " "          202 

"HE  HAD  SNAPPED  THE  BARREL  IN  PLACE1'  .  .  "    280 

"'COME,  GUTHRIE,'  HE  ONLY  SAID" "    302 

"EVERY  DAY  THAT  DAWNED"  .  .  .  "    358 


912686 


IN  THE 
"STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

I. 

WHO  they  were,  and  whence  they  came,  none  can 
say.  The  mountains  where  they  found  their  home 
— their  long  home — keep  silence.  The  stars,  that 
they  knew,  look  down  upon  their  graves  and  make 
no  sign.  Their  memory,  unless  in  some  fine  and 
subtle  way  lingering  in  the  mystery,  the  perva 
sive  melancholy,  the  vaguely  troublous  forecast  and 
retrospect  which  possess  the  mind  in  contemplat 
ing  this  sequestered  spot,  unhallowed  save  by  the 
sense  of  a  common  humanity,  has  faded  from  the 
earth.  None  might  know  that  they  had  ever  lived 
but  for  a  dim  tradition  associating  them  with  the 
ancient  forgotten  peoples  of  this  old  hemisphere  of 
ours  that  we  are  wont  to  deem  so  new.  For  this 
is  one  of  the  strange  burial-grounds  of  the  "  pygmy 
dwellers"  of  Tennessee;  prehistoric,  it  is  held,  an 
extinct  diminutive  race  ;  only  Aztec  children,  others 
surmise,  of  a  uniform  age  and  size,  buried  apart 
from  their  kindred,  for  some  unimagincd,  nevcr-to- 
be-explained  reason ;  and  a  more  prosaic  opinion 
contends  that  the  curious  stone  sepulchres  contain 
merely  infant  relics  -of  the  Cherokee  Indian.  All  I 
1 


IN    THE    " STRANGER    PEOPLE S         COUNTRY. 

.know  is,  here^  they,  rest,  awaiting  that  supreme  mo- 
'jnent  wliefa/this/iaprfality  shall  put  on  immortality, 
.  am^meanwhije  in. "the >  solemn  environment  of  the 
;  {TTgaijSniok^MoCuntainsCthe  "  Leetle  People  "sleep 
well. 

Quiet  neighbors  all  these  years  have  they  been. 
So  quiet !  almost  forgotten.  In  fact,  the  nearest 
mountaineers  start,  with  a  dazed  look,  at  a  ques 
tion  concerning  them,  then  become  mysterious,  with 
that  superstitious,  speculative  gleam  in  the  eye  as 
of  one  who  knows  much  of  uncanny  lore,  but  is  shy 
to  recount. 

"  I  do  declar'  I  never  war  so  set  back  in  my  life 
ez  I  felt  whenst  that  thar  valley  man  jes'  upped  an' 
axed  me  'bout'n  them  thar  Leetle  Stranger  People 
buried  yander  on  the  rise,"  declared  Stephen  Yates, 
one  July  evening,  as  he  stood  leaning  on  his  rifle 
before  the  door  of  his  cabin  in  the  cove.  His  horse, 
reeking  and  blo>vn,  still  saddled,  bore  a  deer,  newly 
slain,  unprotected  by  the  game-laws,  and  the  old 
hounds,  panting  and  muddy  from  the  chase,  lay 
around  the  doorstep. 

A  young  woman  of  twenty,  perhaps,  with  a  pale 
oval  face  and  dark  hair,  and  serene  dark  gray  eyes, 
was  on  the  rickety  porch,  leaning  upon  a  rude  shelf 
that  served  also  as  a  balustrade ;  she  had  a  cedar 
piggin  in  her  hand,  and  the  cow  was  lowing  at  the 
bars.  On  the  doorstep  there  sat  a  rotund  and  stal 
wart,  but  preternaturally  solemn  young  person,  who 
now  and  again,  with  a  corrugated  countenance, 
gnashed  his  gums.  His  time  and  energies  were  ex 
pended  in  that  trying  occupation  known  as  "  cuttin' 
yer  teeth,"  an  acquisition  which  he  would  some  day 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S''  COUNTRY.    3 


"LEETLE  MOSE." 


value  more  highly  than  now.  He  sought,  as  far  as 
an  abnormally  developed  craft  might  compass,  to 
force,  by  many  an  infant  wile,  his  elders  to  share  his 
woes,  and  it  was  with  a  distinctly  fallen  countenance 
that  his  father  hearkened  to  his  mother's  parenthet 
ical  request  to  "  'bide  hyar  an'  company  leetle  Moses 
whilst  I  be  a-milkin'  the  cow." 

Yates  did  not  refuse,  although  a  braver  man  might 
have  quailed.  It  was  his  hard  fate  to  regard  "  leetle 
Moses"  as  a  supreme  fetich,  and  to  worship  him 
with  as  unrequited  an  idolatry  as  ever  was  lavished 
on  the  great  god  Dagon.  He  only  sought  to  gain 
time,  and  continued  his  account  of  the  conversation  : 

"  He  'lowed  ef  he  hed  knowed  afore  ez  they  war 


4  IN    THE    " STRANGER    PEOPLE S        COUNTRY. 

buried  hyar,  he'd  Lev  kem  a  liunderd  mile  jes'  ter 
view  the  spot,"  he  said,  his  eye  kindling  with  a  recol 
lection  of  the  "  valley  man's  "  enthusiasm. 

His  wife  hardly  entered  into  it  at  second-hand. 
She  regarded  him  with  a  slow  wonderment  stealing 
over  her  face. 

"War — war  he  'quainted  with  enny  of  'em  in  thar 
lifetime  ?"  she  demanded,  hesitating,  but  seeking  to 
solve  the  valley  man's  reason — "  them  Leetle  Stranger 
People  ?" 

"  Great  Gosh !  Adelaide !"  Yates  exclaimed,  irri 
tably,  contemptuous  all  at  once  of  the  limitations  of 
her  standpoint.  "Ye  stay  cooped  up  hyar  'soci- 
atin'  with  nobody  but  leetle  Mose  till  ye  hev  furgot 
every  durned  thing  ye  ever  knowed.  The  Leetle 
People  hev  been  dead  so  long  ago  nobody  'members 
'em — not  even  old  man  Peake,  an'  he  air  a  hundcrd  an' 
ten  year  old — ef  he  ain't  lyin',"  he  added,  cautiously. 

Her  face  flushed.  There  was  fire  in  her  serene 
eyes,  like  a  flare  of  sunset  in  the  placid  depths  of  a 
lake.  "  I'm  willin'  ter  'bide  along  o'  leetle  Mose," 
she  retorted.  "  I  never  expect  ter  see  no  better 
company  'n  leetle  Mose  ter  the  las'  day  I  Jive,  an'  I 
never  did  see  none  !" 

Yates  shifted  his  weight  uncertainly  upon  his  oth 
er  foot,  and  surveyed  with  a  casual  glance  the  wide 
landscape.  The  sense  of  supersedure  was  sharp  at 
the  moment.  He  had  been  in  his  day  a  great  man 
in  her  estimation,  and  now  "  leetle  Mose,"  with  his 
surly  dejection,  with  only  a  tooth  or  two — and  with 
these  he  would  have  gladly  dispensed — with  his  un 
certain  gait  and  his  pigeon-toes  and  his  nearly  bald 
head,  was  a  greater  man  still.  He  and  his  mother 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.         5 

were  a  close  corporation,  but,  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
fealty  to  the  domestic  Dagon,  Steve  Yates  forgave 
them  both.  He  went  on  presently  : 

"  The  valley  man  hcd  jes'  hearn  tell  ez  them  Lee- 
tie  People  war  buried  hyarabout.  I  never  seen  a 
man  so  streck  of  a  heap  ez  he  war,  an'  he  axed  me 
fool  questions  till  I  felt  plumb  cur'ous  a-talkin'  'bout 
them  Leetle  Stranger  People  buried  thar  on  the 
rise."  Once  more  he  turned  toward  the  slope  that 
embarrassed,  half-laughing  glance — in  which,  how 
ever,  there  was  no  mirth — betokening  a  spirit  ill  at 
ease,  and  secretly  shrinking  from  some  uncanny, 
irksome  fear. 

Her  eyes  mechanically  followed  his  to  the  purple 
slope  so  still  under  the  crimson  sky.  Higher  up, 
the  mountain,  shielded  by  the  shadow  of  its  own 
crags  from  this  reflection  of  the  west,  showed  a 
dark  green  shade  of  an  indescribable  depth  and  rich 
ness  of  tone,  never  merging  into  dusky  indefiniteness. 
Through  a  gap  in  the  range  to  the  east  were  visible 
the  infinite  blue  distances  of  the  Great  Smoky  peaks, 
their  color  here  and  there  idealized  by  the  far-away 
glamours  of  sunset  to  an  exquisite  roseate  hue,  or  a 
crystalline  and  perfect  amethyst  against  the  amber 
horizon.  Down  the  clifty  gorge — its  walls  of  solid 
sandstone,  cloven  to  the  bare  heart  of  the  range  by 
the  fierce  momentum  of  the  waters  —  tho  bounding 
river  came.  One  mad  leap  presented  the  glittering 
splendors  of  a  glassy-green  cataract,  and  in  its  elas 
tic  spray  an  elusive  rainbow  lurked.  Its  voice  was 
like  that  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  so  far 
might  its  eloquent  iteration  be  heard.  The  Little 
People,  in  their  day,  might  have  given  ear  to  its 


6  IN   THE    "  STRANGER   PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

message  and  pondered  on  the  untranslated  tidings,. 
but  now  they  did  not  heed. 

Only  the  dwellers  in  the  mountaineer's  cabin  hard 
by  listened  at  times  to  the  pulsing  rhythm,  as  alive 
as  the  metre  of  a  great  poem  ;  and,  again,  in  duller 
mood,  its  sound  was  but  as  silence  to  those  who 
cared  not  to  hear.  The  dark  little  house  seemed 
small  and  solitary  and  transitory  here  among  the 
massive,  enduring  mountains,  beside  the  majestic 
flow  of  the  waters,  and  the  rail-fence  enclosed  the 
minimum  of  space  from  the  great  unpeopled  wilds. 

"  I  'lowed  ter  him  they  never  walked,"  Yates  said, 
presently.  "  Ez  fur  ez  I  know,  they  hain't  been 
seen,  nor  none  o'  'em  set  out  ter  walk,  sence  they 
war  put  thar  fust.  Nobody  ez  I  know  purfesses 
ter  hev  seen  enny  o'  the  Stranger  People's  harnts." 

He  repeated  this  with  simplicity,  evidently  desir 
ous  of  giving  the  pygmy  dwellers  their  bounden 
due. 

"  I  'lowed  ter  him,"  he  continued,  "  ez  folks  hed 
let  them  be,  an'  they  hed  let  the  mounting  folks  be. 
Nobody  wanted  sech  cur'ous  harnts  ez  folks  o'  thar 
size  ter  git  ter  walkin'  at  this  late  day." 

There  was  a  vague  chill  in  the  air — or  was  it  in 
the  moral  atmosphere  ? 

"  What  be  he  a-vagrantin'  round  fur,  inquirin' 
'bout  them  as  be  dead  an'  done  with  the  livin'  long 
ago  ?"  she  demanded,  a  touch  of  acerbity  in  her  tone 
and  a  restless  look  in  her  eyes. 

"  He  'lows  ez  he's  jes'  kem  hyar  along  o'  Leonard 
Rhodes  ez  be  a-'lectioneerin'  fur  floater  fur  the  Leg- 
islatur'.  An'  him  an'  Rhodes  air  frien's,  an'  Rhodes 
hev  got  some  Ian'  in  this  county  ez  her  got  one  o' 


WAR — WAR    HK    'tJUAINTKD    WITH    ENNY    OF    'EM  ?' 


IN    THE    " STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY.  7 

them  Injun  mounds  on  it,  an'  he  liev  let  this  frien' 
o'  his  hev  men  ter  dig  an'  open  it  ter  see  what  they 
could  find.  I  seen  'em  arter  it  ter-day ;  this  hyar 
man  'peared  mighty  nigh  ez  excited  ez  a  Juny-bug  ; 
I  noticed  he  never  dug  none,  though,  hisse'f." 

He  paused  for  a  moment,  chewing  hard  on  his 
quid  of  tobacco  ;  then  he  slowly  laughed.  "  The 
folks  he  lied  hired  ter  dig  'lowed  he  war  teched  in 
the  head,  but  he  'peared  sorter  sensible  ter  me — 
never  teched  a  spade,  an'  'twar  a  hot  day." 

"  What  did  they  find  ?"  asked  his  wife,  breath 
lessly. 

"  Dirt,"  Yates  said,  with  an  iconoclastic  laugh, 
"a  plenty  of  it.  He  'peared  toler'ble  disapp'inted 
till  he  hearn  'bout  the  Stranger  People's  buryin'- 
groun'.  Adelaide  " — he  raised  his  voice  suddenly — 
"  that  thar  idjit  o'  a  man,  he  'lows  ez  them  Leetle 
People  warn't  grown  folks  at  all — jes'  chil'n  ;  I  tried 
ter  tell  the  fool  better — jes'  leetle  chil'n  !" 

He  glanced  quickly  at  her,  as  if  prepared  for  the 
shock  of  surprise  which  must  be  elicited  by  this  on 
slaught  upon  the  faith  of  a  whole  community.  Some 
how,  as  she  again  fastened  her  eyes  on  the  sombre 
declivity,  her  face  wore  the  look  of  one  whose  secret 
thought  is  revealed  in  words.  In  the  few  years  that 
she  had  lived  here,  a  stranger  herself,  in  some  sort — 
not  accustomed,  as  was  her  husband,  to  a  lifelong 
vicinage  to  the  pygmy  burial-ground — she  had  devel 
oped  no  receptivity  to  that  uncanny  idea  of  a  race  of 
dwarfs.  Always  as  children  she  had  thought  of  the 
Little  People ;  she  had  made  no  effort  to  reconcile 
this  theory  with  the  strange  fact  that  no  similar  sar 
cophagi,  enclosing  larger  frames,  were  known  of  far 


IN    THE 


or  near;  she  found  no  incongruity  in  the  idea  that 
infants  should  have  been  thus  segregated  in  death 
from  all  their  kindred ;  it  seemed  a  meet  resting- 
place  for  youth  and  innocence,  thus  apart  from  all 
others.  They  were  children  —  only  children ;  all 
asleep  ;  asleep  and  resting  !  With  the  strange  fasci 
nation  that  the  spot  and  its  unique  tradition  exerted 
upon  her,  she  would  glance  thither  from  time  to  time 
throughout  the  day,  pausing  at  her  task  to  follow  the 
shadow  of  the  clouds  sweeping  over  the  purple  slope, 
and  to  listen  to  the  whir  of  bees  in  the  still  noon 
amongst  the  sweet  fern  and  to  the  call  of  the  glad 
birds.  When  she  sang  in  fitful  fragments  a  crooning 
lullaby  to  her  own  child,  who  had  made  all  childhood 
doubly  dear  and  doubly  sacred  to  her  heart,  she  was 
wont  to  watch  pensively  the  tender  glow  of  evening 
reddening  there,  so  soft,  so  brilliant,  so  promissory  of 
the  splendid  days  to  come  that  it  needs  must  suggest 
that  supernal  dawn  when  the  Little  People  should  all 
rise  to  greet  the  rising  sun  that  they  had  seen  set  for 
the  last  time  so  long  ago.  In  bright,  slanting  rows, 
as  swift,  as  ethereal,  as  dazzling  as^the  morning  mist 
transfigured  by  the  sun's  rays — with  her  prophetic 
eyes  she  could  behold  them,  rank  after  rank,  coming 
down  the  slope  in  this  radiant  guise ;  meanwhile 
they  slept  as  securely  as  her  child  slept  in  her  arms, 
their  waking  as  certain. 

The  picture  recurred  to  her  thoughts  at  the  mo 
ment.  "  They  will  all  rise  before  we-uns  at  the  jcdg- 
mint-day,"  she  said,  her  far-seeing  gray  eyes  clear 
and  crystalline  upon  the  unmarked  place. 

"  Laws-a-massy,  Adelaide  !"  cried  her  husband,  in 
a  tone  of  expostulation  and  alarm,  with  a  quick 


glance  over  his  shoulder,  "  what  ails  ye  tcr  say  sech 
ez  that — ez  ef  it  war  gospel  sure  ?" 

Her  eyes  came  back  reluctantly  to  him ;  the  ques 
tion  had  jarred  upon  her  reverie.  "  Ye  air  'bleeged 
ter  know  that,"  she  retorted,  with  a  slighting  man 
ner.  "  The  sun  strikes  through  the  gap  an'  teches 
the  Leetle  People's  buryin'-groun'  a  full  haffen  hour 
an'  better  afore  it  reaches  the  graveyard  o'  the  mount 
ing  folks  down  thar  in  the  shadder  o'  the  range." 

He  listened  ponderingly  to  this  logic,  his  chin 
resting  upon  the  muzzle. of  his  rifle;  then,  with  a 
noiseless  shifting  of  his  posture,  he  looked  again 
with  a  cautious  gesture  over  his  shoulder.  He  was 
a  hardy  hunter,  of  a  vigorous  physique  and  but  scan 
tily  acquainted  with  fear,  but  this  eerie  idea  of  a 
thousand  or  so  adult  pygmy  Tennesseeans  astir  on 
the  last  day,  forestalling  the  familiar  mountain  neigh 
bors,  robbed  immortality  for  the  moment  of  its  wont 
ed  prestige. 

The  oppressive  influence  even  laid  hold  on  his 
strong  frame,  and  he  extended  one  powerful  arm  at 
full  length,  with  a  futile  effort  to  yawn. 

"  G'long,  Adelaide  !  G'long  an'  milk  the  cow  !" 
he  exclaimed,  with  the  irritation  that  was  always 
apparent  in  his  manner  when  perplexity  seized  upon 
his  brain— *a  good  organ  of  its  kind,  but  working 
best  in  the  clear  air  of  out-of-door  contemplation. 
lie  was  a  man  of  sound  common-sense,  but  with  no 
endowment  for  furtive  speculation,  and  purblind 
gropings,  and  tenuous  deductions  from  flimsy  prem 
ises.  He  heaved  a  great  sigh  of  relief  to  remember 
the  cow — the  good,  homely  cow — at  the  bars. 

Adelaide  had  slowly  taken  up  the  piggin.     u  Ye 


10         IN    THE 

hain't  told  me  why  that  thar  valley  man  sets  so  much 
store  by  the  Leetle  People.  I'll  go  arter  I  hear  that 
word." 

"  Waal,  I  ain't  a-goin'  ter  speak  it,"  retorted  her 
husband,  with  a  threatening  conjugal  frown.  "  I 
ain't  a-goin'  ter  let  leetle  Mose  be  kep'  up  hyar  till 
midnight  a-waitin'  for  you-uns  ter  milk  the  cow.  It's 
cleverly  dark  now." 

"  Leetle  Mose"  was  a  name  to  conjure  with  ;  even 
the  wife  denied  herself  the  luxury  of  the  last  word, 
so  lost  was  she  in  the  mother.  She  put  the  piggin 
hastily  upon  her  head,  and  went,  with  the  erect, 
graceful  pose  that  the  prosaic  weight  fosters,  down 
the  winding  path  beyond  the  spring  to  the  bars 
where  the  red  cow  stood  lowing. 

The  household  idol,  sitting  upon  the  step  with  a 
grave,  inscrutable  countenance,  silently  watched  her 
departure,  then  suddenly  set  up  a  loud  and  bitter 
wail  of  desertion.  It  was  in  vain  that  she  paused 
and  called  back  promises  of  return,  albeit  he  under 
stood  well  the  language  which  so  far  he  refused  to 
speak  ;  in  vain  that  his  father  came  and  sat  beside 
him  on  the  step,  and  patted  him  with  a  large  hand 
upon  his  limited  back.  It  was  a  good  opportunity 
for  the  lamentation  in  which  "  leetle  Mose "  was 
prone  to  indulge.  He  had  a  reputation  that  ex 
tended  far  beyond  his  ken — for  the  fence  bounded 
his  world — not,  however,  that  he  would  have  cared. 
He  was  known  throughout  many  a  cove,  and  even 
in  the  settlement,  as  the  "  wust  chile  ever  seen,  an' 
a  jedgmint,  ef  the  truth  war  known,  on  Stephen  an' 
Adelaide  Yates  fur  hevin'  been  so  fly-away  an'  head 
strong  in  thar  single  days — both  of  'em  wild  ez  deer, 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE s  '  COUNTRY.       11 

an'  gin  over  tcr  dancin'  an'  foolishness."  It  was 
with  a  certain  grim  satisfaction  that  the  settlement 
hearkened  to  the  fact  that  they  were  "  mighty  tame 
now."  Thus  Dagon's  filial  exploits  lacked  no  plau 
dits.  His  mental  capacities,  too,  received  due  rec 
ognition.  "  He  be  powerful  smart,  though  ;  he  won't 
let  'em  hev  no  mo'  comp'ny  'n  he  can  help.  I  reckon 
he  knows  they  wouldn't  'tend  ter  him  ef  they  hed 
ennything  else  they  could  'tend  ter.  Sometimes  that 
chile  be  a-settin'  on  the  front  porch  sorter  peaceable, 
restin'  hisse'f  from  hollerin',"  his  maternal  great- 
aunt  Jerushy  chronicled  to  a  coterie  of  pleased  gos 
sips,  "  an'  ef  he  see  a  wagon  a-stoppin'  at  the  gate, 
or  a  visitor  a-walkin'  up  the  path,  he'll  mos'  lif  the 
roof  off  with  his  screeches.  An'  screech  he  will  till 
they  leaves ;  he  hev  mos'  made  me  decf  fur  life.  I 
useter  spend  consider'ble  o'  my  time  with  that  young 
couple" — and  there  was  an  ousted  suggestion  in 
Aunt  Jerushy's  manner.  "  It  makes  his  dad  an' 
mam  'shamed  fur  true,  his  kerryin's  on  ;  they  air 
bowed  down  ter  the  ycarth !" 

The  widespread  strictures  on  their  idol  were  very 
bitter  to  the  parental  worshippers.  Often,  with  a 
troubled  aspect,  they  took  counsel  together,  and  re 
peated  in  helpless  dudgeon  the  criticism  of  his  kin 
dred  and  neighbors.  It  was  powerless  to  shake  their 
loyalty.  Even  his  father,  whom  he  chose  to  regard 
with  a  lowering  and  suspicious  mien,  unless  it  were 
in  the  dead  hours  of  the  night,  when  he  developed  a 
morbid  craving  to  be  trotted  back  and  forth  and  up 
and  down  the  puncheon  floor,  was  flattered  with  the 
smallest  tokens  of  his  confidence. 

He  had  an  admirable  perseverance.     He  sat  still 


12         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S        COUNTRY. 

weeping  in  the  midst  of  his  pink  fat  with  so  much 
distortion  of  countenance  and  display  of  gums,  and 
such  loud  vocal  exercises,  when  Adelaide  returned, 
that  she  cast  upon  her  husband  a  look  of  deep  re 
proach,  and  he  divined  that  she  suspected  him  of 
having  gone  to  the  extreme  length  of  smiting  Dagon 
in  her  absence,  and  despite  his  clear  conscience  he 
could  but  look  guilty. 

"  Oh,  Mose !"  he  said,  outdone,  as  he  rose,  "  ye 
air  so  mean — ye  air  so  durned  mean  !" 

But  the  callow  wrath  of  the  "  leetle  Mose "  was 
more  formidable  than  the  displeasure  of  the  big  man, 
and  his  heart  burned  at  the  short  reply  of  his  wife,  a 
sarcastic  "  I  reckon  so  !"  when  he  protested  that  he 
had  done  nothing  to  Mose  to  which  any  fair-minded 
infant  could  have  taken  exceptions.  The  vocaliza 
tions  of  Dagon  were  of  such  unusual  power  this  even 
ing  that  his  strength  failed  shortly  after  supper,  and 
he  was  asleep  earlier  than  his  ordinary  hour,  for  he 
was  something  of  a  late  bird.  Belying  all  his  traits, 
he  looked  angelic  as  he  lay  in  his  little  rude  box  cra 
dle.  When  the  moonlight  came  creeping  through 
the  door  it  found  him  there,  with  a  smile  on  his  rose- 
leaf  lips,  and  both  his  pink  hands  unclasped  on  the 
coverlet.  Adelaide,  despite  the  silence  and  studious 
air  of  preoccupation  she  had  maintained  toward  her 
husband,  could  but  beg  Yates  to  observe  the  child's 
beauty  as  she  sank  down,  dead  beat,  on  the  door 
step  to  rest,  but  still  keeping  one  hand  on  the  rock 
er  of  the  cradle,  for  motion  was  pleasing  to  "  leetle 
Mose,"  and  by  this  requisition  he  doubtless  under 
stood  that  he  could  absorb  and  occupy  his  elders, 
even  when  he  was  unconscious.  ' 


COUNTRY.         13 

"  He's  purty  enough,  the  Lord  knows,"  the  de 
jected  father  assented,  as  he  sat  smoking  his  pipe  at 
a  little  distance  on  the  step  of  the  porch.  "  I  dun'  no', 
though,  what  ails  him  ter  take  sech  a  spite  at  me.  I 
do  all  I  kin  ter  pleasure  him." 

Adelaide  experienced  a  vicarious  qualm  of  con 
science.  "  He  ain't  got  no  spite  at  you-uns,"  she 
said,  reassuringly,  in  the  hope  that  her  words  could 
speak  louder  than  Dagon's  actions.  "  It's  jes'  his 
teeth  harry  him  so." 

"An'  ye  didn't  useter  be  so  easy  sot  agin  me." 
Yates  preferred  this  complaint  after  a  meditative 
puff  of  the  pipe.  There  is  a  melancholy  pleasure  in 
the  role  of  domestic  martyr.  He  was  beginning  to 
enjoy  himself. 

"  I  ain't  sot  agin  ye,  but  somebody  hev  got  ter  take 
up  an'  gin  up  fur  leetle  Mose.  Men-folks  hain't  got 
no  patience  with  leetle  chil'n." 

"  I  never  knowed  what  'twar  ter  gin  up  afore,"  he 
protested.  "  I  ain't  done  nuthin'  else  sence  Mose 
war  born.  Don't  go  nowhar,  don't  see  nuthin'  nor 
nobody." 

He  smoked  languidly  for  a  few  moments,  then, 
with  decision :  "  Thar  ain't  no  use  in  it ;  we-uns 
mought  jes'  cz  well  hev  gone  ter  the  infair  over  yan- 
der  in  the  cove  at  Pettingill's  cz  not  ter-night,  an'  got 
Aunt  Jerushy  ter  bide  with  Moses  till  we  kem  back." 

"  Moses  would  hev  hollered  hisself  inter  a  fit ;  he 
jes'  stiffens  at  the  sight  o'  Aunt  Jerushy." 

"  Waal,  then,  we-uns  mought  hev  tuk  Moses  along; 
I  hev  seen  plenty  o'  babies  sleepin'  at  a  dance  an' 
camp-meetin's,  an'  even  f une'ls.  I'll  bet  thar's  a  right 
smart  chance  of  'em  over  at  Pettingill's  now." 


14         IN    THE    " STRANGER    PEOPLE' 

"  Mought  cotch  measles  from  some  of  'em,  too, 
or  whoopin'-congli,"  said  his  wife,  conclusively. 

There  was  no  help  for  it.  Seclusion  with  their 
Dagon  was  evidently  their  fate  until  "  leetle  Mose  " 
should  be  grown  to  man's  estate. 

There  was  a  long  pause,  in  which  the  mercurial 
and  socially  disposed  Yates  dimly  beheld  the  length 
ening  perspective  of  this  prospect.  He  had  been  a 
dancer  of  famous  activities  and  a  joyous  blade  at  all 
the  mountain  merry-makings,  and  he  had  married 
the  liveliest  girl  of  his  acquaintance — with  no  little 
trouble,  too,  for  she  had  been  a  mountain  belle  and 
something  of  a  coquette.  He  sometimes  could  hard 
ly  identify  with  these  recollections  the  watchful-eyed 
and  pensive  little  mother  and  the  home-staying  wife. 

"  I  wouldn't  mind  it  ef  Moses  didn't  treat  me  so 
mean,"  he  resumed,  all  his  sensibilities  sorely  wound 
ed.  "  I  do  declar'  I  be  kep'  hid  out  so  in  the  woods 
that  I  war  plumb  flustered  when  I  seen  them  valley 
men  this  evenin'  down  thar  at  the  mound.  I  wouldn't 
hcv  been  s'prised  none  ef  I  hed  jes'  sot  out  an'  run 
from  'em  an'  hid  a-hint  a  tree  like  old  folks  'low  the 
Injuns  useter  do  whenst  they  seen  a  white  man." 

"  Ye  never  'lowed  ez  what  set  that  valley  man  ter 
talkin'  'bout  the  Leetle  People,"  she  said,  seeking  to 
divert  his  mind  from  his  unfilial  son,  and  to  open  a 
more  congenial  topic.  Her  eyes,  full  of  the  moon 
light,  turned  toward  the  slope  where  the  sheen,  richly 
metallic  and  deeply  yellow,  rested  ;  the  rising  disk  it 
self  was  visible  through  the  gap  in  the  mountains  ; 
much  of  the  world  seemed  in  some  sort  unaware  of 
its  advent,  and  lay  in  the  shadow,  dark  and  stolid,  in 
a  dull  invisibility,  as  though  without  form  and  void. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      15 

The  moon  had  not  yet  scaled  the  heights  of  the  great 
range  ;  only  that  long  clifty  gorge  cleaving  its  mighty 
heart  was  radiant  with  the  forecast  of  the  splendors 
of  the  night,  and  through  this  vista,  upon  the  mystic 
burial-ground,  fell  the  pensive  light  like  a  benison. 

Yates,  too,  glanced  toward  it  with  a  kindling  eye 
and  an  alert  interest. 

u  He  'pears  ter  be  a  powerful  cur'us  man.  Some 
body  'lowed  he  war  a-diggin'  fur  jugs  an'  sech  ez  the 
Injuns  lied — leastwise  them  ez  built  the  mounds  ;  he 
'lows  'twarn't  no  Injuns ;  and  Pete  Dinks  tole  it  ez 
how  the  jugs  mus'  be  like  that'n  ez  Felix  Guthric 
'lowed  war  in  the  grave  o'  one  o'  the  Leetle  People." 

He  paused.  She  turned  her  white,  startled  face 
toward  him,  her  eyes  distended.  Her  voice  was 
bated  with  horror — a  mere  whisper. 

"  What  grave  ?  How  do  Fee  ondertake  ter  know 
sech  ez  air  in  the  Stranger  People's  graves  ?" 

In  his  instant  irritation  because  of  the  problem 
of  her  mental  attitude  he  lifted  his  voice,  and  it 
sounded  strident  above  the  droning  susurrus  of  the 
cicada,  which  filled  the  summer  night  with  a  drowsy 
monotone,  and  the  insistent  iteration  of  the  falls. 

<(  Gloryful  gracious,  Adelaide,  surely  ye  mus'  hev 
hearn  ez  how  one  o'  them  big  rocks  in  the  water-fall 
thar  fell  from  the  top  wunst,  an'  crashed  down  inter 
the  ruver.  An'  it  kerried  cornsider'ble  o'  the  yearth 
along  the  ruver-bank  with  it,  an'  tuk  off  the  top  slab 
o'  the  stone  coffin  o'  one  o'  these  hyar  Leetle  People. 
They  hain't  buried  more'n  two  feet  deep.  An'  Fee 
— 'twar  on  his  Ian' — he  had  ter  move  his  fence  back- 
'ards,  an'  whilst  he  war  about  it  he  got  that  slab  an' 
put  it  whar  it  b'longed,  an'  kivered  the  grave  agin. 


10         IN    THE 

An'  so  he  seen  the  jug  in  thar  with  the  bones.  The 
jug  hed  shells  in  it,  Fee  say,  an'  the  skeleton  hed 
beads  round  its  neck.  That  all  happened,  now  ez  I 
kem  ter  study  on  it,  afore  ye  an'  me  war  married." 

His  acerbity  had  evaporated  in  the  interest  of  the 
narration,  and  in  the  evolution  of  an  excellent  reason 
for  her  ignorance  of  these  things  that  had  happened 
previous  to  her  advent  into  the  neighborhood.  He 
did  not  notice  that  she  took  no  advantage  of  the 
excuse  to  upbraid  him  with  his  readiness  to  find 
fault,  and  that  she  made  no  rejoinder  as  she  sat,  her 
head  depressed,  her  whole  attitude  crouching,  her 
dilated  eyes  fixed  with  a  horror-stricken  fascination 
upon  the  pygmy  burial-ground,  in  that  broad,  lucent 
expanse  of  the  yellow  moonlight  which  was  still 
streaming  through  the  illuminated  gorge  of  the 
mountains  into  an  otherwise  dusky  world.  The 
events  of  the  afternoon  were  reasserting  themselves 
in  his  mind.  He  laughed  a  little  as  he  reviewed  them. 

"  Fee  hed  been  huntin'  with  me  ter-day,  an'  this 
valley  man — I  b'lieve  they  'lowed  his  name  war 
Shattuck,  an'  he  air  a  lawyer  whar  he  kem  from  ;  he 
don't  dig  fur  a  living — whenst  he  hearn  'bout  that,  he 
say,  quick  ez  lightning  :  ;  Would  ye  know  the  spot 
agin  ?  What  made  ye  leave  the  jar  thar  ?  What 
made  ye  put  the  slab  back  ?'  An'  Fee — ye  know  how 
crusty  an'  sour  an'  cantankerous  he  be — he  say, 
*  Them  Leetle  People  air  folks,  an'  I  hev  no  call  ter 
go  grave-robbin'  ez  I  knows  on  !'  That  thar  Shat 
tuck  turned  fire-red  in  a  minit.  He  air  a  mighty 
nice,  sa-aft-spoken,  perlite  man,  though  spindlin.'  An' 
he  talked  mos'ly  ter  me  arter  that — Fee  stood  by  an' 
listened — an'  I  liked  Shattuck  middlin'  well.  He 


17 

Mowed  ez  'twar  important  ter  know  fur  the  history  of 
the  kentry — an'  he  did  sound  sorter  like  he  war  va- 
grantin'  in  his  mind — ter  know  ef  them  Leetle  People 
war  grown  folks  or  jes'  chil'n.  He  b'lieves  they  war  jes' 
chil'n,  but  ef  he  could  see  jes'  one  skull  he  could  tell." 

Adelaide  gasped ;  she  reached  out  her  hand  me 
chanically  and  laid  it  upon  the  feet  of  the  baby 
curled  up  in  his  soft,  warm  nest.  Her  husband's 
glance  absently  followed  her  movement,  but  he  went 
on  unheeding : 

"  An'  Fee,  standin'  stare-gazin'  him,  ez  sullen  ez  a 
bar  with  a  sore  head,  axed,  '  How  kin  ye  tell  ?'  ez 
much  ez  ter  say,  '  Ye  lie  !'  But  Shattuck  war  perlite 
ez  ever.  *  Many  ways;  by  their  teeth,  for  instance — 
their  wisdom  teeth.'  Then  he  went  a-maunderin'  on 
'bout  a  man  he  knowed  ez  could  jes'  take  a  bone  o' 
a  animal  ez  he  never  seen,  ez  lived  hyar  afore  the 
flood,  an'  tell  how  tall  'twar  an'  what  it  eat — I  do 
declar'  he  did  sound  like  he  war  crazy,  though  he 
looked  sensible  ter  the  las' — an'  this  1'arned  man 
could  actially  medjure  an'  make  a  pictur'  of  seen  a 
animal  out'n  a  few  bones.  An'  Fee,  he  jes'  stood 
listenin'  long  enough  ter  say,  « Them  Leetle  People 
never  done  me  no  harm,  an'  I  ain't  goin'  ter  do  them 
none  jes'  'kase  they  air  leetle  an'  dead,  an'  can't  holp 
tharse'fs.  They  may  hev  hed  a  use  fur  thar  teeth  in 
thar  lifetime  ;  I  hain't  got  no  use  fur  'em  now/  An' 
he  whurled  around  an'  put  his  foot  inter  his  stirrup 
an'  war  a-goin'  ter  ride  off,  whenst  the  valley  man 
cotch  his  bridle  an'  say,  '  Ye  hev  got  no  objections 
ter  my  excavatin'  on  yer  land,  though  ?'  " 

Yates  laughed  lazily.  "  I  do  declar'  'twar  too 
durncd  funny.  Fee  didn't  know  what  the  long- 
2 


18        IN    THE 

tongued  sinner  meant  by  '  excavatin','  an'  I  didn't 
nuther  till  arterward.  But  Fee,  he  jes'  wanted  ter 
be  contrairy,  no  matter  what,  so  he  jes'  say,  powerful 
glum, { I  dun'  no'  'bout  that,'  and  rid  off  down  the  road. 
An'  this  Shattuck,  he  jes'  stood  lookin'  after  Fee  with 
his  chin  cocked  up  in  the  air,  an'  he  say,  '  That's  a 
sweet  youth  !'  He  speaks  out  right  plain  an'  spunky 
fur  sech  a  spindlin'  man.  Everybody  laughed  but 
Rhodes ;  lie  looked  mightily  tuck  back  ter  hev  his 
friend  making  game  o'  the  mounting  folks.  Fee's 
vote  counts  jes'  the  same  ez  ef  he  war  ez  pleasant  ez 
a  basket  o'  chips.  So  Rhodes,  he  sorter  frowned  up 
an'  say,  '  Ye  don't  onderstan'  Felix  Guthrie.  He  air 
a  good-hearted  man,  but  he  ain't  been  treated  right, 
an'  it's  sorter  soured  him.  He's  good  at  heart,  though.' 
An'  this  Shattuck  'peared  ter  take  the  hint ;  he  say 
sorter  stridin'  about,  off-hand,  an'  that  leetle  soft  hat 
o'  his'n  on  the  side  o'  his  head,  'I  mus'  make  frien's 
with  him,  then  ;  I  mus'  git  on  the  right  side  o'  him.' 
An'  up  spoke  one  o'  them  Peakes — they  war  holpin' 
ter  look  on  at  the  few  ez  war  willin'  ter  dig — *  The 
only  way,'  he  say, 4  ter  make  frien's  with  Fee  Guthrie 
air  ter  fondle  him  with  a  six-shooter.'  Shattuck  laffed. 
But  Rhodes,  he  be  a-shettin'  him  up  all  the  time,  an' 
a-hintin'  at  him,  an'  a-lookin'  oneasy.  Rhodes  air 
skeered  'bout  his  'lection,  ef  the  truth  war  knowed." 
He  stretched  his  arms  above  his  head  and  drew 
a  long  sigh  of  pleasurable  reminiscence.  "  We  hed  a 
right  sorter  sociable  evenin'.  I'll  be  bound  they  air 
all  over  yander  at  the  infair  now.  I  know  Rhodes 
danced  at  the  weddin'  the  t'other  night  at  Gossam's, 
an'  they  do  say  he  kissed  the  bride,  though  they 
mought  hev  been  funnin'  'bout'n  that." 


COUNTRY.         19 

He  looked  at  her  once  more,  noticing  at  last  the 
absorbed,  intent  expression  of  her  lustrous,  thought 
ful  eyes  ;  the  thrill  of  some  feeling  unknown  to  him 
was  in  her  hand  as  she  laid  it  upon  his,  and  asked  in 
an  irrelevant,  mysterious,  apprehensive  tone,  "  What 
do  *  excavate'  mean  ?" 

"  Hey  ?"  he  exclaimed.  He  had  already  forgotten 
what  he  had  said,  in  the  flexibility  of  his  shallow  men 
tal  processes,  and  recalled  it  by  an  effort.  "  Shucks ! 
Jes'  dig — that's  all.  Folks  hev  got  a  heap  o'  cur'ous 
words  o'  late  years." 

Her  grasp  tightened  convulsively  on  his  arm, 
"  'Mongst  the  graves  o'  the  Leetle  People  2" 

He  nodded,  looking  at  her  with  vague  surprise  and 
gathering  anger. 

"  He  sha'n't !"  she  cried,  finding  her  voice  suddenly, 
and  it  rang  out  shrilly  into  the  soft,  perfumed  night 
air.  "  It's  in  rifle  range — the  Leetle  People's  buryin'- 
groun'.  I  hev  got  aim  enough  ter  stop  his  meddlin', 
pryin'  han's  'mongst  them  pore  Leetle  People's  bones. 
An'  I'll  do  it,  too,"  she  added,  in  a  lower  tone. 

Her  grasp  had  relaxed,  for  he  had  sprung  to  his 
feet  and  stood  looking  at  her,  infinitely  shocked,  the 
image  of  the  unoffending  gentleman  and  scholar, 
whom  she  threatened,  in  his  mind,  all  unaware  how  it 
differed  from  the  ghoul  of  her  ignorant  fancy. 

"  Adelaide !"  he  exclaimed,  with  that  accent  of 
authority  which  he  seldom  assumed,  "  hesh  up  !  Tech 
that  rifle,  an'  I'll  turn  ye  out'n  my  door  I" 

She,  too,  was  standing ;  she  turned  a  stony  face, 
white  in  the  moonlight,  upon  him  as  if  she  could  not 
realize  his  words,  but  her  eyes  were  slowly  kindling 
with  a  fury  before  which  he  quailed. 


20        IN    THE 

He  was,  however,  in  every  way  the  stronger,  and 
the  gravity  of  the  crisis  taught  him  how  to  use  his 
strength. 

"  Take  them  words  back,"  he  reiterated,  as  if  all 
unafirighted,  "  or  I'll  turn  ye  out'n  my  house  forever, 
an'  ye'll  leave  leetle  Mose  hyar,  for  he  b'longs  ter  me  !" 

The  fear  that  had  quivered  in  his  heart  seemed 
suddenly  translated  into  her  eyes  ;  they  looked  an 
eloquent  reproach,  then,  suddenly,  all  the  fire  was 
quenched  in  tears,  and  she  sank  down  sobbing  by 
the  side  of  the  cradle,  leaving  him  standing  there 
triumphant,  it  is  true,  but  finding  bitterness  in  his 
victory.  He  sat  down,  presently,  in  his  former  post 
ure,  feeling  ill-used  and  reproachful  and  indignant. 
It  was  difficult  to  resume  the  conversation  in  the 
tone  which  he  had  maintained,  and  as  she  persistent 
ly  wept,  he  resorted  to  reproaches. 

"  I  dun'  no'  what  in  Canaan  is  the  reason  ye  an' 
me  can't  git  along  'thout  quar'lin'.  We  never  used 
ter  quar'l  none  in  our  courtin'  days,  an' " — as  a 
fresh  burst  of  sobs  acquiesced  in  this  statement,  he 
hastened  to  put  the  blame  upon  her — "  ye  never  used 
ter  talk  so  like  a  durned  fool."  The  chilly  sensation 
which  her  threat,  so  full  of  horror,  had  caused  him, 
renewed  for  the  moment  its  thrill. 

"  'Tain't  like  a  fool,"  she  declared,  lifting  her  tear 
ful  face.  "  Ef  'tis,  then  the  law's  a  fool — the  law, 
ez  ye  set  sech  store  on.  Ain't  the  law  agin  diggin' 
up  folks's  bones  ?  I  ain't  a-goin'  ter  do  nothin'  'bout'n 
it,  but  ef  ennybody  war  cotched  at  sech  in  the  mount- 
ing-folks's  buryin'-groun'  they'd  hev  a  few  ounces 
o'  lead  ter  tote  off  inside  of  'em  ef  they  could  git 
away  at  all,  an'  ye  know  they  would." 


IN  THE    "STRANGER  PEOPLES"  COUNTRY.      21 

The  difference  of  their  standpoint  —  his  normal 
views  unconsciously  modified  by  the  talk  of  the 
scientific  theorist,  in  which  sentiment  was  easily 
subordinated  to  the  acquisition  of  valuable  knowl 
edge,  none  of  which  could  he  adequately  impart  at 
second  hand  to  her,  quivering  as  she  was  with  the 
idea  of  sacrilege  and  the  sanctity  of  the  tomb — baf 
fled  him  for  the  moment ;  he  hesitated ;  he  found 
no  words  to  convey  the  impressions  he  had  received; 
then  he  gave  way  to  the  anger  always  the  sequence 
of  the  antagonism  of  opinion  between  them. 

"  Ye  don't  sense  nuthin',  an'  ye  dun'  no'  nuthin',  an' 
ye  can't  Para  nuthin1." 

"  I  don't  want  ter  1'arn  sech  ez  ye  'pear  ter  pick  up 
in  the  settlemints,"  she  retorted,  with  spirit.  "  Rob- 
bin'  the  dead  an'  sech  !  I'd  ruther  stay  at  home  an' 
jes'  'sociate  with  leetle  Moses — a  sight"  ruther." 

"  I  hedn't !"  he  declared,  roughly.  He  rose  to 
his  feet.  "  I  don't  hev  no  peace  at  home.  I  reckon 
I  mought  ez  well  go  whar  I  don't  get  quar'led  with  ez 
much.  I  mought  jes'  ez  well  be  at  the  infair  cz  hyar." 

"  Jes'  ez  well,"  she  sarcastically  assented. 

He  stepped  past  her  into  the  room  to  lay  aside  his 
shot-pouch  and  powder-horn,  as  not  meet  accoutre 
ment  for  a  festive  gathering. 

"  Ye  lied  better  kerry  yer  rifle.  Ain't  ye  'feared 
ef  ye  leave  it  hyar  I  mought  take  aim  at  siitliin*  in 
the  Leetle  People's  buryin'-ground  ?"  she  said,  look 
ing  up  at  him  from  her  lowly  seat  on  the  floor,  her 
eyes  hard  and  dry  and  bright. 

"  Edzac'ly — fool  enough  fur  ennything,"  he  de 
clared  ;  but  it  was  empty-handed  that  he  stepped 
out  into  the  moonlight. 


She  made  no  effort  to  detain  him ;  she  did  not 
call  him  back.  He  paused  when  in  the  shadow  of 
the  great  hickory-trees  about  the  spring,  and  looked 
up  at  the  little  house.  The  moon  was  above  the 
mountains,  nearly  full  and  radiant.  Trailing  lumi 
nous  mists  crept  over  the  summits  after  it,  and 
caught  the  light.  All  the  world  shared  in  its  gra 
cious  splendors  now,  and  the  great  gap,  the  gorge  of 
the  river,  bereft  of  the  unique  illumination  its  rugged 
vistas  had  monopolized  while  all  was  dark  about  it, 
seemed  melancholy  and  pensive,  of  reduced  promi 
nence  and  blurred  effect. 

The  dew  glistened  on  the  slanting  roof  of  the  lit 
tle  log-cabin ;  the  vines  swayed  duplicated  by  their 
moving  shadows,  and  where  the  moonlight  fell  un 
broken  through  the  doorway  he  saw,  against  the  dark 
background  of  the  interior,  Adelaide,  still  sitting  on 
the  floor  beside  the  cradle,  and  he  heard  the  mono 
tone  of  the  rockers  as  they  thumped  to  and  fro. 

He  heard  it  long  after  distance  had  nullified  the 
sound.  The  wayside  katydids  sang  their  song  in 
chorus  with  it ;  the  tree-toad  shrilling  stridulously 
but  bore  it  a  burden.  Even  the  roar  of  the  water-fall 
was  secondary,  however  it  might  pervade  and  thrill 
the  wilderness.  More  than  once,  as  he  went  along 
the  dark  and  dewy  road,  he  paused  doubtfully,  half 
minded  to  retrace  his  way.  "  I  oughtn't  ter  hev 
tuck  Adelaide  up  so  sharp.  Sence  she  hev  hearn 
the  notion  ez  them  Leetle  People  war  jes'  leetle  chil'n, 
like  Mose,  she'll  set  mo'  store  by  'em,  jes'  ter  com- 
iplimint  him,  ter  the  las'  day  she  live.  I'd  hate  ter  be 
sech  a  fool  'bout  leetle  Mose  ez  she  be."  He  shook 
his  head  solemnly  as  he  stood  in  the  road,  fragrant 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       23 

with  the  odor  of  the  azaleas  in  the  undergrowth  and 
the  balsamic  breath  of  the  low-hanging  firs,  which 
were  all  fibrously  a-glitter  wherever  the  moon  touched 
the  dew  in  the  dense  midst  of  their  shadows.  "An' 
she  'pears  to  think  herse'f  gifted  with  wisdom  now'- 
days,  an'  sets  up  ter  make  remarks  ez  sobersided  ez 
ef  she  war  risin'  fifty  year  old.  'Fore  she  war  mar 
ried  she  never  hed  no  'pinions  on  nuthin' — ez  frisky 
as  a  squir'l  an'  ez  nimble.  An'  now'days  she  ain't 
got  nuthin'  but  'pinions,  an'  air  ez  sot  in  her  doc 
trines  an'  ez  solemn  ez  the  rider,  an'  ez  slow-spoken." 

While  he  still  hesitated,  there  came  into  his  mind 
a  foretaste  of  this  slow  diction,  fashioned  to  reproach 
or  to  ill  -  disguised  triumph  in  sedulously  casual 
phrase,  that  would  greet  him  should  he  return  home, 
his  threat  of  attending  the  infair  all  unaccomplished. 
He  would  have  been  glad  enough  to  be  sitting  once 
more  upon  the  low  step  of  the  little  porch,  with  Ade 
laide  and  the  cradle  of  the  slumbering  Dagon  close 
by  5  but  the  pleasures  of  the  festive  gathering,  grown 
all  at  once  strangely  vapid  and  sterile  to  his  imagi 
nation,  lay  between  him  and  the  return  to  this  calm 
domestic  sphere ;  otherwise  he  would  relinquish  all 
pretence  of  conserving  those  elements  of  primacy 
which  he  should  arrogate  and  maintain. 

"  It's  time  Adelaide  hed  fund  out  who's  the  head 
o'  this  hyar  fambly.  'Tain't  her,  an'  'tain't  leetle 
Mose,  an'  she  ain't  a-goin'  to  1'arn  no  younger." 


II. 

IN  those  open  fields  near  the  Pettingill  cabin 
where  the  infair  was  in  progress,  the  moonlight 
seemed  to  reach  its  richest  effulgence.  There  was 
something  in  the  delicate  blue -green  tint  of  the 
broad  blades  of  the  waving  Indian  corn,  where  the 
dew  lay  with  a  glitter  like  that  of  the  whetted  edge 
of  a  keen  weapon,  which  was  not  revoked  by  the 
night,  being  of  so  chaste  and  fine  a  tone  that  it  com 
ported  with  that  limited  scale  of  color  which  the 
moon  countenances.  AVith  the  unbroken  splendor 
upon  this  expanse,  all  the  brighter  because  of  the 
deep  sombre  forests  above  and  the  dense  dark  jun 
gle  of  the  laurel  below — for  the  corn  stood  upon  so 
steep  a  slope  that  how  the  crop  was  cultivated 
seemed  a  marvel  to  the  unaccustomed  eye — it  was 
visible  a  long  way  to  Stephen  Yates  as  he  approached 
on  the  country  road ;  even  after  he  had  crossed  the 
little  log  foot-bridge  over  the  river,  and  commenced 
the  steep  ascent  of  a  wooded  hill,  he  could  still 
catch  glimpses  now  and  then  of  this  dazzling  green 
through  the  heavy  black  shadows  of  the  great 
trees,  from  the  foliage  of  which  every  suggestion 
of  color  had  been  expunged.  Another  light  pres 
ently  came  from  a  different  direction,  goading  the 
dulled  and  preoccupied  mind  of  the  young  man 
into  fresh  receptivities.  A  sound  arose  other  than 


IN  THE    "  STRANGER  PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY.          25 

the  tinkling  metallic  tremors  and  gurglings  of  the 
mountain  stream  —  the  sound  of  a  fiddle  ;  a  poor 
thing  enough,  doubtless,  but  voicing  a  wild,  plain 
tive  melody,  which  pervaded  the  woods  with  vibrant 
rhythmic  tones,  even  in  the  distances,  where  it  wan 
dered  fitfully  and  faint,  and  now  and  again  was  lost. 
It  issued  from  out  a  great  tawny  flare,  under  the 
dense  boughs  of  the  trees,  that  grew  a  brighter  yel 
low  as  Yates  drew  nearer,  soon  resolving  itself  into 
the  illuminated  squares  of  the  doors  and  windows  of 
the  Pettingill  cabin.  More  than  once  figures,  with 
gigantic  shadows  that  reached  high  up  among  the 
trees,  eclipsed  these  lights,  and  suggested  to  him 
the  superannuated  spectators  of  the  festivity,  look 
ing  in  upon  it  from  porch  and  window.  Certain 
masses  of  shadow  began  to  be  differentiated  amidst 
the  dusky,  tawny  vistas  in  the  darkness,  now  only 
vaguely  asserting  an  alien  texture  from  the  heavy 
shade  of  the  foliage,  and  now  becoming  definite  and 
recognizable  as  sundry  household  furnishings,  evicted 
and  thrust  upon  the  bare  ground  to  make  room  for 
the  dancing.  The  loom  cut  a  sorry  figure  standing 
out  under  the  trees.  Dimly  discerned,  it  seemed 
to  wear  an  aspect  of  forlorn  astonishment,  con 
sciously  grotesque  and  discouraged.  And  then,  as 
the  path  wound,  it  receded  to  obscurity,  and  his  at 
tention  was  bespoken  by  the  spinning-wheels  close 
by  the  wood-pile,  all  a-teeter  on  the  uneven  flooring 
of  the  chips,  and  now  and  again,  as  if  by  a  common 
impulse,  awhirl  in  a  solemn,  hesitant  revolution,  as 
some  tricksy  wind  came  out  of  the  woods  and  went 
its  way. 

A  sinuous  turn  of  the  river  brought  it  close  to  the 


26          IN   THE 

Pettingill  cabin,  and  in  the  darkness  he  could  see  the 
stars,  all  come  down  to  the  earth,  the  splendid  Lyra 
playing  in  the  ripples.  A  flare,  too,  from  the  festive 
halls  glassed  itself  in  certain  shallows ;  the  rainbow 
hues  of  the  warping  bars  hard  by  were  reflected  on 
this  placid  surface,  and  the  great  gaunt  frame  for 
the  first  time  beheld  its  skeleton  proportions.  The 
rhythmic  beat  of  the  untiring  feet  on  the  puncheon 
floor  of  the  cabin  pulsed  with  the  palpitations  of  the 
stars ;  the  fiddle  sang  and  sang  as  ceaselessly  as  the 
chanting  cicada  without,  and  the  frogs  intoning  their 
sylvan  runes  by  the  waterside.  All  the  night  seemed 
given  over,  in  a  certain  languorous,  subtly  pensive 
way,  to  the  rustic  merry-making  of  the  infair,  and 
only  Stephen  Yates  felt  himself  an  intruder  and  out 
of  place.  As  his  step  fell  upon  the  porch,  in  its 
most  secluded  and  shadowy  corner,  he  winced  to 
note  the  quick,  alert  turning  from  the  window  of  a 
shaggy  gray  head,  and  the  keen,  peering  eyes  of  the 
hospitably  intent  father  of  the  bridegroom  who  made 
the  feast. 

"  Ye,  Steve !"  he  cried  out,  "  what  ye  kem  a-sneak- 
in'  up  ter  the  house  that-a-way  fur  ?  Howdy  !  howdy  I" 

This  stentorian  welcome,  pitched  high  to  drown 
the  sound  of  the  dancing  and  the  long-drawn  ca 
dence  of  the  violin,  diverted  the  attention  of  the 
by-standers,  who,  their  faces  unfamiliar  in  the  com 
bined  effects  of  the  high  lights  from  the  windows 
and  the  deep  shadows  of  the  darkness  without,  all 
turned  to  gaze  at  the  new-comer  and  to  assist  at  the 
colloquy. 

"  We-uns  hev  all  been  a-gittin'  married  round  hyar 
lately.  Whar's  that  purty  wife  o'  yourn  ?  Lef  her 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       27 

at  home  ?"  Genuine  dismay  and  covert  rebuke 
were  in  the  very  inflections  of  the  host's  voice, 
although  he  sought  to  make  it  as  hearty  and  effer 
vescent  as  before.  "  Lcf  her  at  home  ?  Ter  mind 
the  baby?  Waal,  we  air  a-goin'  ter  miss  her,  but 
mebbe  the  baby  would  hcv  missed  her  mo'.  Waal, 
ye  air  welcome,  ennyhow." 

"  They  tell  me,  Yates,"  remarked  one  of  the  by 
standers,  with  the  pious  intention  of  making  himself 
disagreeable,  "  ez  you-uns  hev  got  the  meanes'  baby 
in  the  kcntry.  Plumb  harries  ye  out'n  house  an' 
home  with  the  temper  of  him." 

"  I  have  hearn  that,  too,"  affirmed  another,  the 
gleaming  teeth  of  his  half-illumined  face  attesting 
his  relish  of  the  abashed  attitude  of  the  forlorn  Ben 
edict.  "  I  hev  hearn  'way  down  ter  Hang-Over 
Mountain  big  talcs  'bout'n  the  survigrous  temper  o' 
that  thar  brat  o'  yourn.  They  'low  they  kin  hear 
him  holler  plumb  ter  the  Leetle  Tennessee." 

The  others  exchanged  glances  of  derision.  The 
goaded  father  plucked  up  a  trifle  of  spirit. 

"  He  may  have  a  survigrous  temper,  an'  he  do  hol 
ler  ;  he  hev  got  the  lungs  ter  do  it ;  fur  I  tell  ye 
now  he's  a  whale !  He  air  goin'  ter  be  the  Big 
Man  o'  these  mountings — a  reg'lar  Samson !" 

"  Sure  enough  ?"  demanded  the  host,  who,  in  his 
double  character  of  entertainer  and  father,  showed 
more  interest  in  "  leetle  Mose  "  than  the  bachelors  felt, 
except  as  he  subdued  his  paternal  relative  and  ren 
dered  him  ridiculous. 

"  Yes,  sir  !  Git  him  to  stand  on  his  feet,  sir,  an' 
I  tell  ye  his  head  will  reach  that  high."  Yates  meas 
ured  off  a  length  of  the  post  at  least  twice  the  height 


28       IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 


of  Moses.  "  He's  a  ivhale!^  And,  with  a  gravely 
triumphant  nod,  he  pushed  boldly  into  the  room, 
although  he  knew  that  the  rows  of  elderly  women 
against  the  wall  were  commenting  upon  his  "  insur 
ance  "  in  appearing  without  his  wife,  thence  proceed 
ing,  doubtless,  to  tear  the  character  of  the  "  leetle 
Moses  "  in  such  manner  as  that  flimsy  and  much  rent 
and  riddled  fabric  was  capable  of  being  further  shred. 
The  floor  trembled  and  elastically  vibrated  to  the 
tread  of  the  dancers.  The  fiddler  was  seated  in  a 
rickety  chair,  precariously  perched  upon  a  table  that 
evidently  felt  also  the  recurrent  thrills  of  the  meas 
ured  pace.  An  intimation  of  the  reverence  in  which 
his  genius  was  held  was  given  in  the  generous  glass 
at  the  feet  of  the  musician,  never  allowed  to  grow 
empty,  however  often,  with  a  dexterous  downward 
lurch,  he  caught  it  up  and  applied  it  to  his  lips  in 
the  intervals  of  the  "  figures,"  which  he  cried  aloud 
in  a  stentorian  voice.  The  big  boots  on  his  long 
crossed  legs  swayed  above  the  heads  of  the  com 
pany;  his  own  head  was  not  far  from  the  festoons 
of  red  peppers  swinging  from  the  brown  beams,  his 
face  was  rapt,  his  cheek  rested  on  the  violin  ;  his 
eyes  were  half-closed,  and  yet  his  vision  was  clear 
enough  to  detect  any  effort  on  the  part  of  a  passer-by 
to  perpetrate  the  threadbare  joke  of  appropriating 
the  glass  at  his  feet  devoted  to  his  refreshment. 
Then  the  fiddle-bow  demonstrated  a  versatile  utility 
in  the  sharp  rap  which  it  could  deal,  and  its  swift 
ness  in  resuming  its  more  ostensible  uses.  There 
was  little  laughter  amongst  the  young  hunters  and 
their  partners.  They  danced  with  glistening  eyes 
and  flushed  cheeks  and  a  solemn  agility,  each  man- 


29 

date  of  the  fiddler  watched  for  with  expectant  inter 
est,  and  obeyed  with  silent  alacrity.  They  were  all 
familiar  to  Steve  Yates,  looking  on  from  the  vantage- 
ground  of  his  twenty-two  years  at  the  scenes  of  his 
youth,  as  it  were ;  for  in  this  primitive  society  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  married  man  rendered  him  as 
ineligible  for  a  dancing  partner  as  the  palsy  could 
have  done.  Only  Leonard  Rhodes  seemed  some 
thing  of  a  novelty.  He  hailed  from  the  county  town, 
and  was  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature.  In  the 
nimble  pursuance  of  the  road  to  success  and  fame 
he  mingled  in  the  dance,  and  he  would  have  esteemed 
it  fortunate  could  his  devoirs  have  always  been  as 
congenial.  He  affected  a  pronounced  rural  air,  al 
though  even  his  best  manners  were  further  from  the 
cosmopolitan  standard  at  which  he  habitually  aimed 
than  he  himself  realized.  He  was  a  tall,  well-built, 
brown-haired  young  man,  with  a  deeply  sunburned 
face,  a  small,  laughing  brown  eye,  a  reddish-brown, 
waving  beard  of  a  fine  tint  and  lustre,  which  he 
usually  had  dyed  a  darker  tone  to  evade  the  red 
shade  considered  so  great  a  defect  in  that  region. 
Owing  to  the  length  of  his  absence  from  his  home 
in  the  interests  of  his  canvass,  and  the  lack  of  the 
village  barber  and  his  arts,  its  color  had  quite  regained 
its  pristine  value.  He  wore  sedulously  his  old  clothes, 
which,  upon  his  handsome  figure,  hardly  looked  so  old 
or  so  plain  or  so  democratic  as  he  would  fain  have  had 
his  constituents  see  them,  or,  indeed,  as  the  garments 
would  have  seemed  on  another  man.  He  danced 
impartially  and  successively  with  every  girl  in  the 
room  ;  and  it  was  well  for  his  political  prospects, 
doubtless,  that  he  had  such  elastic  and  tough  re- 


sources  for  this  amusement  at  his  command,  since 
the  neglect  of  any  one  of  the  fair  might  have  resulted 
in  the  loss  of  an  indefinite  number  of  votes  among 
her  relatives  of  the  sterner  sex.  His  opponent,  a 
family  man  forty-five  years  of  age,  was  in  disastrous 
eclipse.  The  elder  candidate  could  only  stand  in  a 
corner  with  some  old  codgers,  who  were  painfully 
unresponsive  to  his  remarks  and  his  jolly  stories, 
and  whose  attention  was  prone  to  wander  from  his 
long,  cadaverous,  bearded  face  as  he  talked,  and  to 
follow  the  mazes  of  the  dance. 

Yates  bethought  himself  of  Rhodes's  friend,  the  ar- 
cha3ologist,  and  catching  sight  of  him  lounging  in  a 
window  opposite,  his  face  lighted  with  the  first  sug 
gestion  of  pleasure  that  the  evening  had  offered.  He 
made  the  tour  of  the  room  gradually,  pausing  now  to 
keep  out  of  the  way  of  the  dancers ;  now  darting 
mouse-like  along  the  wall  in  the  rear  of  a  couple  ad 
vancing  to  the  centre  ;  now  respectfully  edging  past  a 
row  of  the  mountain  dowagers  seated  in  splint-bot 
tomed  chairs,  and  talking  with  loud,  shrill  glee,  be 
stowing  but  scant  recognition  on  the  man  who  had 
left  his  wife  at  home.  At  last,  after  many  hair 
breadth  escapes,  he  reached  Mr.  Shattuck,  still  loll 
ing  upon  the  window-seat. 

"  How  hev  ye  been  a-comin'  on  ?"  Yates  demanded, 
looking  down  at  him  with  a  pleased  smile. 

For  Mr.  Shattuck,  without  the  affectation  of  rustic 
proclivities,  made  his  way  so  fairly  into  the  predilec 
tions  of  the  mountaineers  that  his  friend  Rhodes, 
who  held  himself  a  famous  tactician  and  full  of  all 
the  finer  enterprises  to  capture  public  favor,  had 
asked  more  than  once  how  he  managed  it. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       31 

"  I  don't  manage  it,"  the  other  had  said. 

He  was  a  man  of  some  twenty-eight  or  thirty  years 
of  age,  of  medium  height  and  with  a  slender  figure, 
clad  somewhat  negligently  in  a  dark  suit  of  flannel ; 
he  wore  a  small,  soft,  blue  hat  with  an  upturned  brim, 
which  left  his  features  unshaded.  They  were  very 
keenly  chiselled  features,  not  otherwise  striking,  but 
their  clear  cutting  imparted  delicacy  and  intimations 
of  refined  force  to  his  pale,  narrow  face.  He  had  a 
long,  drooping  brown  moustache,  and  his  hair,  cut 
close,  was  of  a  kindred  tint,  but  darker.  His  -eyes 
were  full  of  light  and  life,  darkly  gray,  and  with 
heavy  lashes,  and  as  they  rested  upon  the  scene, 
unique  to  his  experience,  for  he  was  city  bred,  one 
might  never  have  divined  the  circumstance  of  initia 
tion,  so  ready  an  acceptance  of  it  all  in  its  best  interpre 
tations  did  they  convey.  He  made  apparently  no  effort 
to  assume  this  air  and  mental  attitude.  As  he  looked 
up  his  glance  was  singularly  free  and  unaffected. 

"  I'm  taking  it  all  in,"  he  said. 

Yates,  his  fancy  titillated  by  a  fresh  interest,  his 
blood  beginning  to  pulse  at  last  to  the  rhythm  of 
happiness  in  the  air,  for  which  the  old  fiddle  marked 
the  time,  grudged  himself  so  much  pleasure  which 
Adelaide  could  not  share.  His  heart  was  warm  with 
the  thought  of  her;  a  subtle  pain  of  self-reproach 
thrilled  through  his  consciousness,  and  presently  her 
name  was  on  his  lips. 

"  My  wife,"  he  said,  with  unwonted  communica 
tiveness  to  the  stranger,  "  she's  a  great  hand  fur  sech 
goin's  on  ez  this ;  an'  sech  a  dancer !  Ye  mought 
ez  well  compare  a  herd  o'  cows  ter  a  nimble  young 
fawn  ez  compare  them  gals  ter  Adelaide." 


As  he  roared  this  out  with  all  the  force  of  his  lungs 
above  the  violin's  strain  and  the  recurrent  beat  of  the 
dancing  feet,  his  enthusiasm  re-enforcing  the  distinct 
ness  and  volume  of  his  speech,  the  careless  Mr.  Shat- 
tuck  became  slightly  embarrassed,  and  looked  about 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  as  if  fearful  that  the  col 
loquy  might  be  overheard.  But  no  one  seemed  to 
notice  except  a  certain  long  and  lank  mountaineer 
standing  hard  by,  grizzled  and  middle-aged,  who 
bore  earnest  testimony  to  the  same  effect,  leaning 
down  toward  Shattuck  to  make  himself  heard. 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  a  plumb  beautiful  dancer ;  light  on  her 
feet,  I  tell  ye !  The  parties'  gal  enny whar  round 
hyar.  I  hcv  knowed  her  sence  she  war  no  bigger'n 
that  thar  citizen  over  yander." 

He  gave  a  jerk  of  his  thumb  toward  a  year-old 
child  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd  standing  at  the 
knee  of  his  grandmother,  who  supported  him  in  an 
upright  posture  by  keeping  a  clutch  upon  his  petti 
coats,  while  he  bobbed  up  and  down  in  time  to  the 
music,  thumping  first  one  foot  and  then  the  other 
upon  the  floor,  emulating  and  imitating  the  dancers, 
participating  in  the  occasion  with  the  zest  of  a  born 
worldling.  His  grave  face,  his  glittering  cye^his 
scarlet  plumpness  of  cheek,  and  his  evident  satisfac 
tion  in  his  own  performance  combined  to  secure  an 
affectionate  ridicule  from  the  by-slanders ;  but  he, 
and  indeed  all  else,  was  unobserved  by  the  dancers. 

"  Ef  I  hed  thunk  Adelaide  would  hev  put  up  with 
sech  ez  you-uns,  Steve,  I'd  hev  tried  myself,"  pro 
tested  the  elderly  bachelor,  "  though  I  ain't  much  of 
a  marryin'  man  in  gineral." 

Yates    received    this   with    less    geniality.     "  Ye 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         33 

needn't  hev  gin  yerse'f  the  trouble,"  he  retorted. 
"  Haffen  the  mounting  tried  thar  luck,  an'  war  sent 
away  with  thar  finger  in  thar  mouth." 

"  An'  'mongst  'em  all  she  made  ch'ice  of  a  man  ez 
goes  a-pleasurin'  whilst  she  be  lef  ter  set  at  home 
like  a  old  'oman,"  and  with  a  nod,  half  reproach, 
half  derision,  he  strolled  away. 

A  mild  form  of  pleasuring  certainly,  to  watch  the 
solemn  capering  of  the  young  mountaineers  to  and 
fro  on  the  shaking  puncheons,  the  vibrations  of 
which,  communicated  to  the  tallow  dips  sputtering 
upon  every  shelf  and  table,  caused  the  drowsy  yellow 
light  to  so  fluctuate  that  with  the  confusion  and  the 
wild  whirl  of  dancing  figures  the  details  of  the  scene 
were  like  some  half-discriminated  furnishings  of  a 
dream.  Such  as  it  was,  Yates's  conscience  gave  him 
a  sharper  pang,  especially  when  he  thought  of  her  as 
he  had  seen  her  last,  the  quiet,  pure  moonlight  fall 
ing  fibrous  and  splendid  through  the  open  door  upon 
her  grieved,  upturned  face  as  she  crouched  on  the 
floor  beside  the  sleeping  child,  angelic  in  his  smil 
ing,  pensive  dreams.  Yates  felt  that  he  had  been 
harsh ;  he  felt  this  so  poignantly  that  he  gave  him 
self  no  plea  of  justification.  All  that  she  had  said 
seemed  now  natural  and  devoid  of  intention  ;  only 
his  alert  censoriousncss  could  have  called  it  in  ques 
tion — and  he  had  been  her  choice  of  all  the  moun 
tain. 

"Adelaide  ain't  keerin'  fur  sech  ez  this,"  he  said, 
loftily.  "  A  nangel  o'  light  couldn't  'tice  her  away 
from  leetle  Mose.  She  fairly  dotes  on  all  the  other 
ehil'n  in  the  woiT  jes'  out'n  complimint  ter  leetle 
Mose.  I  hed  a  plumb  quar'l  with  her  this  evcnin'," 


34         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

he  added,  turning  to  the  archaeologist  with  a  smile, 
"  arter  I  hed  told  her  ez  ye  reckoned  them  Leetle 
People  buried  thar  on  the  rise  war  mithin'  but  chil'n. 
She  jes'  fired  up,  sir,  an'  'lowed  ef  ye  went  a-foolin' 
round  them  with  yer  fine  book  1'arnin'  an'  diggin'  up 
thar  bones,  she'd  pick  ye  off  with  a  rifle.  Leetle 
Mose  hev  made  her  mighty  tender  to  all  the  chil'n." 

Shattuck  glanced  up  with  a  good-natured  laugh; 
he  recognized  only  fantastic  hyperbole  in  the  threat, 
and  Yates  once  more  experienced  a  qualm  of  self-re 
proach  to  realize  how  seriously  he  had  regarded  it, 
how  heavily  he  had  punished  the  extravagant,  mean 
ingless  indignation. 

"  The  only  trouble  I  fear  is  getting  the  consent  of 
the  owner  of  the  land,"  Shattuck  said,  easily,  and 
his  eyes  reverted  to  the  object  that  had  before  ab 
sorbed  his  attention.  It  was  not  the  maelstrom  of 
"  Ladies  to  the  right."  Yates,  following  the  direc 
tion  of  his  intent  gaze,  experienced  a  trifle  of  surprise 
that  it  should  be  nothing  more  striking  than  Letitia 
Pettingill,  the  daughter  of  the  house,  standing  in  the 
doorway  silently  watching  the  dancing. 

"  A  scrap  of  a  gal "  she  was  esteemed  in  the  moun 
tains,  being  a  trifle  under  the  average  height,  and 
delicately  built  in  proportion.  The  light  flickering 
out  upon  the  porch  barely  showed  the  dark  green 
background  of  hop-vines  in  the  black  darkness  with 
out.  Her  dull,  light-blue  cotton  dress,  defined  against 
this  sombre  hue,  was  swaying  slightly  aslant,  the 
wind  breaking  the  straight  folds  of  the  skirt.  Her 
complexion  was  of  a  clear  creamy  tone ;  the  hair, 
curling  on  her  brow,  and  massed  at  the  nape  of  the 
neck  and  there  tied  closely,  the  thick,  short,  curling 


IN    THE    " STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY.         35 

ends  hanging  down,  was  a  dusky  brown,  not  black ; 
and  her  eyes,  well  set  and  with  long  dark  lashes  and 
distinctly  arched  eyebrows,  were  of  that  definite  blue 
which  always  seems  doubly  radiant  and  lucent  when 
illumined  by  an  artificial  light.  Her  small  straight 
features  had  little  expression,  but  her  lips  were  finely 
cut  and  delicately  red.  She  held  up  one  arm  against 
the  door-frame,  and  bent  her  inscrutable  eyes  on  the 
quickening  whirl. 

"Waal,  what  Fee  Guthrie  kin  see  in  her  or  what 
she  kin  see  in  Fee  Guthrie  ter  fall  in  love  with  one 
another  beats  my  time,"  said  Yates,  with  a  grin, 
commenting  openly  upon  the  focus  of  the  other's  at 
tention. 

Mr.  Shattuck  evidently  perceived  something  of  in 
terest  in  her ;  he  did  not  lift  his  eyes,  but  he  re 
joined  with  freshened  animation : 

"Guthrie?  The  young  'bear  with  the  sore  head' 
who  owns  the  pygmy  burying-ground  ?" 

"That  very  actial  bear,"  cried  Yates,  delighted 
with  this  characterization  of  his  friend  and  neighbor. 
"  His  old  cabin  thar's  'bout  tumbled  down ;  'twar 
lef  him  by  his  gran'dad,  an'  he  lives  up  on  the 
mounting  with  his  step-mam ;  but  he  owns  that 
house  too;  his  dad's  dead.  Some  folks  'low,"  he 
continued,  rehearsing  with  evident  gusto  the  gossip, 
"  ez  he  don't  keep  comp'ny  with  Litt  Pettingill.  He 
jes'  sot  by  her  wunst  at  camp-meetin',  'kase  him  an' 
her  war  all  the  sinners  present,  an'  that  started  the 
tale  ez  he  war  courtin'  her  ;  everybody  else  war  either 
convicted  o'  sin,  an'  at  the  mourner's  bencht  or  else 
shoutin'  saints  o'  the  Lord,  prayin'  an'  goin'  'mongst 
the  mourners.  I  never  hearn  tell  o'  nobody  keepin' 


36   IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

comp'ny  with  Lctisliy  Pcttingill ;  I'll  be  bound  it'll  take 
a  heap  better-lookin'  gal  'n  her  ter  suit  Fee  Guthrie." 

"  I  should  like  ter  know  where  he'd  find  her,"  ob 
served  Shattuck. 

Yates  turned  to  bend  the  eye  of  astonished  and 
questioning  criticism  upon  the  unconscious  object  of 
their  scrutiny. 

"  Ye  'low  ez  Litt  Pettingill  air  well-favored,  stran 
ger  ?"  he  demanded  at  last,  in  amazement. 

"  Very  pretty  and  very  odd.  I  never  saw  a  face 
in  the  least  like  hers." 

"  Waal !"  exclaimed  Yates.  "  Litt  Pettingill's  beau 
ty  air  news  ter  the  mountings.  Some  folks  'low  she 
hev  got  a  cur'us  kind  o'  mind.  Some  even  say  she 
air  techcd  in  the  head."  His  tone  seemed  to  inti 
mate  that  Mr.  Shattuck,  in  the  face  of  this  fact,  had 
reason  to  reform  his  standard  of  taste. 

That  gentleman  shook  his  own  head  in  contemptu 
ous  negation.  "  Never  in  this  world.  Never  with 
that  face." 

"  Waal,  ye  can't  size  her  up  now,"  insisted  Yates, 
"  leetle  ez  she  be  " — with  a  grin — "  whilst  she  be 
a-standin'  still.  Ef  ye  war  ter  see  her  a-movin'  an' 
a-turnin'  roun',  she's  ez  quick  an'  keen-lookin'  ez  a 
knife-blade  in  a  suddint  fight,  an'  mighty  nigh  cz 
dangerous.  She  looks  at  ye  like  she  warn't  look- 
in'  at  ye,  but  plumb  through  yer  skull  inter  yer  brains, 
ter  make  sure  ye  war  tellin'  her  what  ye  thunk.  She 
talks  cur'ous,  too,  sorter  onexpccted  an'  contrariwise, 
an'  she  never  could  git  religion.  That's  mighty  cur' 
ous  in  gal-folks.  I  ain't  so  mighty  partic'lar  'bout 
men  Christians,  though  I'm  a  perfcsser  myself,  but 
religion  'pears  ter  me  ter  kem  sorter  nat'ral  ter  gal- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       37 

folks.  'Tain't  'kase  she's  too  religious  that  she  ain't 
a-dancin'.  It's  jes'  'kase  nobody  hev  asked  her.  She 
ain't  no  sorter  favorite  'mongst  the  boys." 

Mr.  Shattuck  suddenly  glanced  up,  half  laughing, 
half  triumphant,  for  the  little  figure  in  blue  had  just 
been  led  out  to  the  centre  of  the  floor,  and  the  door 
way  was  vacant  save  for  a  large  brindled  cur  that 
stood  upon  the  threshold,  wagging  his  tail  and 
watching  the  scene  with  a  suave,  indulgent,  presidial 
gaze,  as  if  he  were  the  patron  of  the  ball.  To  be 
sure,  her  partner  was  that  man  of  facile  admiration, 
the  candidate  Rhodes,  but  Shattuck  experienced  a 
vicarious  satisfaction  that  it  could  not  be  said  that 
she  had  not  been  asked  to  dance  at  all. 

He  watched  the  couple  as  the  set  formed  anew, 
and  noticed  that  Rhodes,  with  his  sedulously  rustic 
air,  was  beginning  in  the  interim  some  conversa 
tion,  stooping  from  his  superior  height  for  her  reply. 
lie  rose  suddenly  to  the  perpendicular,  an  almost 
startled  surprise  upon  his  face  as  he  stared  ;  then 
he  clapped  his  hands  with  a  jocular  air  of  applause, 
and  his  round  laugh  rang  out  with  an  elastic,  un 
forced  merriment,  which  suggested  to  his  friend  that 
he  was  finding  the  ways  of  policy  not  such  thorny 
ways  after  all.  Shattuck  wondered  vaguely  if  this 
demonstration,  too,  were  of  the  affectations  of  pro 
pitiation,  or  if  what  she  had  said  were  clever  enough 
to  elicit  it,  or  merely  funny.  His  eyes  followed  the 
little  blue-clad  figure  as  she  began  to  dance  —  her 
untutored  movements  all  in  rhythm  with  the  music, 
as  an  azalea  dances  in  time  to  the  wind.  Now  she 
drifted  about  with  short,  mincing,  hesitant  steps,  now 
with  flying  feet  and  skirts  whirling,  as  if  responsive 


38         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

to  the  circling  impetus  she  could  in  no  wise  resist. 
She  looked  almost  a  child  amongst  the  burlier  and 
coarser  forms.  With  her  delicate  hands,  and  her 
tiny  feet,  and  her  spirited  face,  and  the  faint  blue 
color  of  her  dress,  she  bore  an  odd  contrast  to  the 
buxom  beauty  of  the  other  mountain  girls,  clad  in 
variegated  plaided  homespun.  Her  blue  eyes  were 
alight  and  glancing ;  her  parted  lips  were  red ;  her 
feet  hardly  seemed  to  touch  the  floor  as  her  hands 
fell  from  one  partner's  grasp,  and  she  came  wafting 
through  the  party  -  colored  maze,  with  outstretched 
arms,  to  another. 

For  the  fun  was  waxing  fast  and  furious  with  the 
added  and  unique  diversion  known  as  "  Dancin' 
Tucker."  The  forlorn  "Tucker"  himself,  partner- 
less  in  the  centre  of  the  set,  capered  solemnly  up 
and  down,  adjusting  his  muscles  and  his  pride  to 
ridicule,  which  was  amply  attested  by  the  guffaws 
that  ever  and  anon  broke  from  the  spectators.  How 
ever  nonchalantly  each  temporary  "  Tucker  "  might 
deport  himself  in  his  isolated  position,  the  earnest 
ness  of  his  desire  to  escape  from  his  unwelcome 
conspicuousness  by  securing  a  partner,  and  his  sin 
cere  objection  to  his  plight,  were  manifested  always 
upon  the  fiddler's  command,  "  Gen'lemen  tcr  the 
right,"  when  he  might  join  the  others  on  their  round, 
dogging  the  steps  of  the  youth  he  wished  to  fore 
stall,  both  balancing  to  each  lady  in  succession.  If, 
by  chance,  the  "  Tucker  "  succeeded  first  in  catching 
a  damsel's  hands  and  swinging  her  around  at  the 
moment  that  the  magic  command  "  Promenade  all !" 
sounded  on  the  air,  he  left  his  pillory  to  the  slower 
swain,  who  must  needs  forthwith  "  dance  Tucker." 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       39 

The  traits  of  character  elicited  by  the  "  Tucker  " 
role  constitute  its  true  fascinations,  and  are  manifold. 
One  nimble  young  hunter  seemed  almost  stricken 
with  the  palsy  upon  his  isolation,  or  gradually  petri 
fying,  while  he  sought  to  dance  alone  in  the  middle 
of  the  circle,  so  heavily  did  each  foot  follow  the 
other  as  he  hopped  aimlessly  up  and  down ;  the  ex 
pression  of  his  eyes  was  so  ludicrously  pitiable  and 
deprecatory,  as  they  swept  the  coterie  of  the  dow 
agers  who  lined  the  walls,  that  they  screamed  with 
laughter.  The  instant  "  Promenade  all !"  sounded 
upon  the  air,  he  made  a  frantic  burst  for  liberty  so 
precipitate  that  at  the  moment  of  touching  the  hand 
of  the  damsel  of  his  choice  he  suddenly  lost  his 
equilibrium,  and  fell  with  a  thunderous  crash  quite 
outside  of  the  charmed  periphery.  Amidst  the  shouts 
of  the  company  Rhodes  caught  the  relinquished 
hands  of  the  waiting  lady,  and  triumphantly  gallo- 
paded  away,  thus  escaping  the  ignominy  of  "  dancin' 
Tucker." 

And  then  Rhodes  bethought  himself  suddenly  of 
that  future  seat  in  the  legislative  halls  of  the  State. 
Shattuck  laughed  to  divine  his  anxiety  as  the  med 
itative  gravity  gathered  upon  Rhodes's  flushed  and 
distended  countenance  ;  his  white  teeth,  all  on  dis 
play,  suddenly  disappeared.  His  hand  doubtfully 
stroked  his  beautiful  undyed  beard.  There  was 
something  worse  even  than  dancing  Tucker  at  the  in- 
fair.  With  every  sharpened  sense  and  every  height 
ened  emotion  normal  to  the  estate  of  candidacy,  he 
was  appreciating  with  how  much  less  philosophy, 
with  what  scanty  grace,  indeed,  he  could  endure  to 
dance  Tucker  before  the  people  at  the  polls  in  the 


40         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLED  "    COUNTRY. 

November  election.  As  the  rueful  "  Tucker,"  with 
every  bone  shaken,  gathered  himself  up  slowly  from 
the  floor  amidst  the  screaming  and  stamping  elders 
— even  the  dancers  and  the  fiddler  had  paused  to 
laugh  —  his  face  scarlet,  his  lips  compressed  with 
pain,  his  eyes  nervously  glancing,  unseeing,  hither 
and  thither,  like  a  creature's  in  a  trap,  Rhodes 
stepped  out  from  his  place. 

"This  ain't  fair,"  he  said,  taking  the  "Tucker" 
by  the  arm ;  "  you  were  ahead  of  me,  and  I'd  have 
been  left  if  you  hadn't  tripped  up.  Pm  Tucker  by 
rights,  an *  I  always  play  fair." 

The  "  Tucker  "  looked  at  him  with  a  doubtful,  red, 
frowning  face ;  but  as  Rhodes  jocularly  took  his  place 
in  the  centre,  and  the  violin  began  a  pizzicato  move 
ment,  as  if  all  the  strings  were  dancing  too,  with  a 
long  sigh  of  relief  he  accepted  the  situation,  and 
presently  joined  in  the  laugh  at  the  lorn  candidate- 
Tucker. 

The  fact  of  an  ulterior  motive  is  a  wonderfully 
reconciling  influence.  Leonard  Rhodes  was  dancing 
his  way  into  the  ballot-box,  and  thus  it  was  that  he 
thought  it  consistent  with  his  dignity  to  seek  to  be 
an  especially  comical  "  Tucker."  But  the  essential 
humor  of  the  character  of  "  Tucker  "  is  his  unwill 
ingness  to  be  funny,  and  his  helpless  absurdity  and 
eagerness  to  elude  his  solitary  dance.  Human* nat 
ure  is  so  complex  that  even  those  whose  profession 
it  is  to  know  it  can  predicate  little  even  upon  its 
most  fundamental  facts.  As  Rhodes  bounded  about, 
now  and  then  executing  a  double-shuffle  and  cutting 
a  pigeon-wing  of  an  extraordinary  agility,  and  more 
than  once  intentionally  suffering  an  opportunity  of 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLED  "    COUNTRY.         41 

securing  a  partner  to  escape  him,  remaining1  "  Tucker  " 
through  several  rounds,  Shattuck  heard  comments 
among  the  by-standers  altogether  at  variance  with 
the  candidate's  expectations..  "That's  all  done  a 
purpose !"  "  He  makes  a  tremenjious  fool  of  his- 
self  !"  "  He  don't  expect  ter  git  married  in  this 
kentry !" 

Shattuck  wondered  by  what  subtle  unclassified  per 
ception,  appertaining  to  candidate-nature,  these  unex 
pected  results  were  at  last  borne  in  to  Khodes's  con 
sciousness,  since  he  was  unable  to  hear  the  whispers  by 
reason  of  the  noise  of  the  dancing,  or,  in  the  midst  of 
his  absorbing  saltatory  activities,  to  mark  any  change 
of  aspect  among  the  spectators.  His  jocund  face 
grew  gradually  incongruously  grave  and  troubled  as 
he  bounded  about  with  undiminished  agility.  These 
were  muscular  forces  now,  however,  at  work,  sus 
taining  his  continuance — mere  strength — instead  of 
the  joyous  elasticity  and  animal  spirits  that  had  at 
first  made  him  so  light.  When,  finally,  it  was  pos 
sible  to  bring  his  penance  to  a  close,  his  politic  mo 
nitions  had  all  become  confused  and  contradictory, 
and  he  made  as  blind  and  vehement  a  rush  for  the 
nearest  opportunity  as  if  he  had  been  merely  one  of 
the  young  mountaineers,  with  no  further  or  deeper 
purpose  in  participating  in  the  pastime  than  the 
pleasure  of  dancing.  His  eyes  seemed  suddenly 
opened  to  his  precipitancy  as  he  stood  successful 
among  the  couples,  equipped  at  last  with  a  partner, 
and  flushed  and  tired  and  panting.  A  wild  accla 
mation  of  jeering  joy  had  arisen  among  the  specta 
tors,  who  during  Rhodes's  incumbency  had  grown 
tired  and  lost  zest,  for  it  was  seldom,  indeed,  that 


42 

Felix  Guthrie  "  danced  Tucker."  As  the  young 
mountaineer,  lowering  and  indignant,  stood  looking 
at  Rhodes,  the  genuine  mirth  of  the  situation  was 
communicated  once  more  to  the  dancers,  to  the  vio 
lin,  and  to  the  spectators,  and  the  whole  infair  was 
throbbing  with  a  new  lease  on  life.  The  tallow 
candles,  sputtering  on  tables  and  shelves,  which  had 
occasionally  bowed  almost  to  extinction  before  the 
passing  breeze — the  whole  party  vanishing  in  these 
momentary  eclipses — seemed  now  endowed  with 
freshened  brilliancy ;  the  fiddler  changed  the  tune  to 
a  merrier ;  the  odor  of  apple-jack,  newly  drawn  from 
the  barrel,  was  imbued  with  zestful  suggestions  as 
the  jug  was  passed  among  the  on-lookcrs ;  only  to 
Leonard  Rhodes  did  the  hour  seem  late,  and  the 
room  hot,  and  the  violin  dissonant,  and  the  company 
frowsily  rustic  and  distasteful,  and  himself  an  un 
lucky  devil  to  have  his  fate  and  his  best  and  highest 
aspirations  and  his  chosen  walk  in  life  at  their  arbi 
trary  will.  No  candidate,  making  the  crucial  test  of 
personal  experience,  ever  felt  more  doubtful  of  the 
wisdom  of  republican  institutions  than  did  Leonard 
Rhodes,  realizing  the  fatuity  of  his  choice  for  dis 
placement,  on  meeting  the  gaze  of  Fee  Guthrie, 
whom  he  had  constituted  "  Tucker  "  for  the  nonce, 
for  Guthrie's  aspect  gave  no  room  for  speculation  as 
to  the  real  sentiments  with  which  he  regarded  the 
position. 

As  Felix  Guthrie  stood  in  his  conspicuous  place, 
both  the  strangers  were  impressed  with  the  large 
symmetry  of  the  scale  upon  which  he  was  built,  its 
perfect  proportion,  its  graceful  ease.  His  boots, 
reaching  to  the  knee,  were  of  a  length  and  weight 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       43 

that  might  have  been  an  effective  bar  to  any  display 
of  agility  on  the  part  of  one  less  accustomed  to  such 
cumbrous  foot-gear.  His  brown  jeans  coat  was  but 
toned  to  the  chin  and  girded  about  with  a  leather 
belt,  in  which  there  were  a  pistol  and  a  hunting- 
knife — in  fact,  the  only  preparation  which  he  had 
made  for  the  dance  was  the  removal  of  his  spurs  and 
his  hat.  His  face  was  deeply  bronzed  by  the  sun 
and  the  wind,  somewhat  too  square,  but  otherwise  so 
regularly  cut  that  the  features  were  inexpressive,  save 
for  the  long  brown  eyes,  with  their  lowering,  suspi 
cious,  antagonistic  gleam.  The  full,  dark,  straight 
eyebrows  almost  met  above  them.  His  hair,  of  a 
rich  yellow  color,  falling  in  long,  loose,  feminine 
ringlets  on  either  side  of  this  large,  surly,  aggressive 
face,  had  an  almost  grotesque  effect,  so  far  is  our 
civilization  from  the  days  of  the  lovelocks.  It  hung 
down  on  his  collar,  and  curled  with  a  grace  and 
readiness  that  were  the  envy  of  more  than  one  of  his 
partners.  He  was  known  far  and  wide  as  an  "  ugly 
customer,"  in  reference  to  his  surly  and  belligerent 
traits  of  character,  which  rather  overshadowed  his 
physical  endowments.  Rhodes,  however,  had  no 
fear  of  him,  save  for  his  political  influence,  for  he 
was  a  man  of  some  hereditary  consideration,  and  of 
substance — of  more  than  moderate  means,  according 
to  the  standard  of  the  cove — and  in  no  wise  had  he 
ever  been  known  to  be  placated  or  to  forgive  an  af 
front.  It  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  the  candidate 
began  to  dance  to  his  doom,  which  he  now  felt  was  in 
evitable,  wishing  that  he  could  have  the  immunity  of 
his  opponent,  whose  age  had  rendered  him  ineligible 
f6r  mingling  in  the  festivities  of  the  infair.  His 


44         IN    THE 

eyes  ever  and  anon  wandered  to  the  "  Tucker,"  who 
was  beginning  to  dance  too,  not  vehemently,  but  with 
a  wonderful  softness  and  lightness,  considering  his 
ponderous  accoutrements,  his  curls  all  in  commotion, 
delicately  waving  and  oscillating  about  his  fierce,  in 
tent,  unsmiling  face.  This  was  a  "  Tucker "  of 
unique  interest  and  value.  The  windows  were  full 
of  the  loiterers  without ;  the  spectators  about  the 
walls  laughed  breathlessly,  and  now  and  again  stood 
up  to  catch  an  unimpeded  glimpse  of  him  amidst  the 
dancers  moving  to  the  fiddler's  mandate. 

The  musician  was  a  wise  man  in  his  genera 
tion,  and  understood  the  human  nature  amongst 
which  his  lot  was  cast.  He  had  kept  sundry  "  Tuck 
ers"  dancing,  as  mechanically  and  unwillingly  as  if 
they  trod  on  hot  iron,  long,  long  after  they  had  de 
spaired  of  ever  hearing  again  the  "  Gen'lemen  ter  the 
right"  which  gave  them  their  chance,  often  elusive, 
to  escape.  But  he  made  Fee  Guthrie's  "  Tucker  "  a 
short  role.  The  spectators  were  hardly  accustomed 
to  him  in  the  unbelovcd  character  when  the  sudden 
command  "  To  the  right "  smote  sharply  upon  the 
air,  and  the  circle  was  awhirl  anew.  Felix  Guthric, 
in  the  midst,  manifested  none  of  the  precipitancy  of 
his  predecessors.  His  eyes  were  aglow ;  his  feet 
moved  softly  in  certain  "  steps "  of  his  own  inven 
tion  ;  his  whole  attitude  was  one  of  expectancy,  of 
abeyance.  Scanning  continually  the  revolving  crowd, 
he  looked  like  a  panther  ready  to  spring.  "When  the 
word  came  at  last,  and  he  darted  forward,  the  whole 
attack  was  most  accurately  adjusted  to  the  moment. 
He  had  chosen  to  forestall  Rhodes,  who  was  bal 
ancing  to  Letitia  Pettingill.  There  was  only  an  in- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      45 

stant's  difference  in  the  quick  movements,  but  in 
stead  of  "  swinging  "  the  man  who  came  first,  accord 
ing  to  the  rules,  she  suddenly  swerved  aside,  passed 
under  Guthrie's  outstretched  arm,  and,  with  a  radiant 
face  and  sapphire  eyes,  held  out  both  hands  to  the 
candidate,  who,  bewildered,  clasped  them,  and  the 
two  swung  round  in  the  customary  revolution,  leav 
ing  Guthrie  "  Tucker "  as  before.  He  stood  as  if 
petrified  in  the  instant's  silence  that  ensued.  Then, 
as  a  great  clamor  of  laughter  and  surprised  comment 
arose,  he  sprang  upon  Rhodes,  his  grip  on  the  candi 
date's  throat.  Rhodes,  himself  of  a  brawny  strength, 
had  put  forth  its  uttermost  to  defend  himself.  A 
wave  of  wind  went  through  the  room,  flickering  all  its 
candles  and  blending  the  fluctuating  shadows.  In 
their  midst  the  bewildered  guests  saw,  as  in  a  dream, 
Guthrie  deal,  with  the  butt  of  the  pistol  clasped  in 
his  hand,  a  blow  upon  the  candidate's  head.  The 
next  moment  the  sharp  crack  of  the  discharged  wea 
pon  pealed  through  the  room,  and  the  puncheons 
trembled  with  the  heavy  fall  as  Rhodes  came  down 
at  full  length  on  the  floor.  The  violin  quavered  into 
silence,  the  crowd  drew  off  suddenly,  then  again 
pressed  close  about  the  insensible  figure  ;  the  wind 
once  more  went  through  the  rooms,  with  all  the  shad 
ows  racing  after;  and  only  the  baby,  still  dancing  in 
the  corner — although  he,  too,  had  stopped  a  moment 
and  winked  hard  at  the  clamorous,  jarring  tone  of 
the  pistol — was  unaware  that  "dancin'  Tucker"  at 
the  infair  had  ended  in  bloodshed,  and  that  the  gay- 
ety  was  over  for  the  time. 


III. 

SHATTUCK  sprang  up,  crying  out,  "  Stop  him  !  Don't 
let  him  escape !"  as  he  rushed  to  lift  his  friend's 
bleeding  head  from  the  floor.  Despite  the  turmoil 
of  his  emotions,  he  appreciated  with  all  his  keenly 
tutored  senses  the  antithesis  of  the  effect  of  Felix 
Guthrie's  massive  immobility  as  he  stood  hard  by 
wiping  the  blood  from  the  butt  of  the  smoking 
pistol. 

"  Stop  him !"  he  retorted  ;  "  hedn't  ye  better  wait 
till  I  set  out  ter  run  somewhar  ?" 

There  was  a  bravado  in  the  situation  not  altogeth 
er  distasteful,  Shattuck  knew,  to  the  spirit  of  the 
backwoodsmen,  and  although  there  were  muttered 
reproaches  amongst  them,  no  one  laid  hands  on  Felix 
Guthrie,  still  looking  about  to  the  right  and  to  the 
left  with  lowering  eyes,  and  still  wiping  the  blood 
from  his  pistol  with  the  soft  brim  of  his  hat,  that  it 
might  not  rust  upon  the  weapon  to  its  injury. 

The  most  vehement  expressions  of  reprobation 
came  from  the  host,  who  loudly  upbraided  Felix 
Guthrie  for  his  lack  of  "  manners,"  and  bewailed  the 
omen  of  the  incident,  as  he  knelt  beside  the  wound 
ed  candidate  with  one  of  the  limp  hands  in  his. 

"  Thar  ain't  been  nobody  died  on  these  puncheons 
sence  Sandy  McVeigh  called  my  gran'dad  ter  the 
door  an'  shot  him  down  in  his  tracks !  Thar's  been 


47 

cornsider'ble  quiet  hyar'  sence.  The  old  man  war  a 
powerful  fighter  an'  a  tartar,  an'  the  neighborhood 
war  peacefuler  with  him  out'n  it  than  in  it,  ef  I  do 
say  it  myse'f.  An'  now  Fee  Guthrie  kerns  hyar 
a-killin'  folks  ter  spite  the  infair — whenst  we  hev 
hed  sech  luck  with  the  weddin'  an'  the  supper  an' 
all — an'  stain  up  these  old  puncheons  with  a  bloody 
death  one  more  time  !" 

His  gray  shock  head  bobbed  about  over  the  prone 
figure,  and  as  he  made  his  unique  lament  he  sought 
to  stanch  the  wounds,  still  bleeding  profusely.  He 
rose  with  a  sudden  alacrity  when,  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  crowd,  a  heralding  cry  announced  that  the 
doctor  was  coining.  Even  then  it  was  a  question 
of  propriety  and  hospitality  which  took  precedence 
with  him. 

"  Let's  git  him  onto  a  bed,  boys  ;  quick !  quick ! 
Don't  let  Doc  Craig  kem  hyar  an'  tell  the  whole 
kentry-side  ez  we-uns  let  Mr.  Rhodes  die  on  the 
floor  'kase  I  don't  vote  on  his  side.  I  wonder  I 
never  thunk  o'  it  before.  Let's  git  him  onto  a  bed." 

Shattuck's  objections  to  moving  him  were  over 
borne  in  the  turmoil.  A  dozen  strong  fellows  seized 
the  prostrate  figure,  and  it  was  lifted  as  if  it  had 
no  weight,  and  swiftly  borne  up  the  narrow  stairs 
to  be  laid  upon  a  bed  in  the  roof -room.  Shat- 
tuck,  feeling  helpless  in  the  midst  of  these  coercive 
circumstances,  could  only  follow,  his  protests  grind 
ing  between  his  teeth,  almost  unconsciously  meta 
morphosed  into  curses.  But  as  he  rose  step  by  step 
on  the  steep  narrow  stair  blockaded  by  the  crowd 
pressing  after  the  wounded  man,  and  the  roof-room 
came  gradually  into  view,  he  grew  more  content,  so 


48 


palpably  for  the  better  was  the  change.  The  win 
dow  at  each  gable  end  stood  open ;  into  one  fell  the 
silvery  splendor  of  the  moon  ;  the  other  was  dusky 
with  shadows,  though  beyond  he  caught  the  interful- 
gent  rays  amongst  the  sycamore  leaves.  The  batten 
shutters  swayed  gently  in  the  wind.  The  air  was 
full  of  vaguely  prophetic  intimations  of  dawn.  A 
pigeon  that  had  nested  in  the  niche  between  the 
chimney  and  the  wall  was  astir  for  a  moment,  and 
cooed  softly.  The  dust  and  glare  of  the  room  below 
seemed  far  away.  The  tent-like  roof  and  the  simple 
furnishing — a  bed,  a  cedar  chest,  a  few  garments  and 
some  large  wolf-skins  hanging  to  the  rafters — all 
were  made  visible  by  the  gracious  courtesy  of  the 
moon. 

Shattuck  fancied  that  he  heard  his  friend  sigh 
faintly  as  they  placed  him  upon  the  great  soft  feather 
bed — the  whole  structure  of  an  uncommon  stature, 
but  promising  ease  and  comfort  in  proportionate  am 
plitude. 

He  made  haste  to  seize  his  host's  arm.  "  Send 
them  all  down,"  he  said,  in  an  imperative  whisper ; 
"  you  and  I  are  enough  to  take  the  doctor's  instruc 
tions.  He  needs  air  and  quiet;  send  them  all  down." 

To  his  relief,  Zack  Pettingill  seemed  to  appreciate 
the  suggestion.  He  turned  abruptly  to  the  great 
shadowy  figures  of  the  mountaineers,  repeatedly  lift 
ing  both  arms  and  letting  them  fall  with  emphasis,  as 
if  he  were  driving  a  flock  of  sheep  or  poultry  before 
him. 

"  Git  out,  boys,"  he  said,  in  his  most  clamorous 
drawl.  Shattuck's  nerves  recoiled  from  the  rasping 
tone.  "  We-uns  don't  want  the  doctor-man  around 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.          49 

hyar  preacliin'  an'  namin'  the  devil  like  he  seen  him 
yistiddy — always  skeers  me  out'n  my  skin  ter  hear 
'bout  him  so  familiar — an'  sayin'  we  air  crowdin' 
round  jes'  out'n  cur'osity  an'  smotherin'  the  man  an' 
ain't  done  all  we  could  fur  Candidate  Rhodes.  I 
wisht  Rhodes  could  hev  tuk  another  time  and  some 
body  else's  place  ter  git  shot !  Git  oufn  hyar,  boys !" 
And  as  he  advanced  upon  the  retiring  crowd  he  once 
more  lifted  both  arms  high  and  let  them  fall. 

"  Hesh !"  said  one  of  the  retreating  mountaineers, 
in  a  warning  tone — he  had  descended  three  or  four 
steps  of  the  staircase  that  entered  the  room  at  one 
corner,  his  head  and  shoulders  still  visible  above  the 
floor.  "  The  doctor's  a-comin'."  The  dusky  figures 
pressed  close  after  him.  He  glanced  up  once  more, 
his  face  suddenly  illumined  with  a  vague  flicker. 
"  With  a  candle"  he  added,  under  his  breath,  as  if 
he  imparted  significant  matter. 

Shattuck  drew  a  long  sigh  of  relief.  At  last  he 
would  be  able  to  see  his  friend  in  proper  care,  and 
would  be  free  from  that  terrifying  sense  of  respon 
sibility  which  sorely  harassed  him,  hampered  as  he 
was  by  the  unaccustomed  conditions  of  the  place. 
He  would  have  the  aid  and  sympathy  of  a  man  of 
some  education,  and  on  whose  judgment  he  could 
rely — one  of  his  own  nationality  at  least ;  for  he  sud 
denly  felt  an  alien  amongst  these  men,  whose  springs 
of  action  so  differed  from  his  own. 

He  waited  breathlessly,  watching  the  light  grow 
stronger,  casting  a  gigantic  shadow  of  the  tousled 
head  of  the  master  of  the  house  upon  the  walls,  as 
the  heavy  tread  came  nearer.  The  host  leaned  down 
to  take  the  candle  from  the  doctor's  hand,  and  in 
4 


50         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

the  flicker  of  the  motion  the  stranger  was  in  the 
room  before  the  light  revealed  him.  Shattuck,  ad 
vancing  eagerly,  suddenly  paused.  A  pang  of  disap 
pointment —  more,  despair  —  quivered  through  his 
heart.  He  beheld  a  tall,  slow,  shambling  man,  clad 
in  old  brown  jeans,  with  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  and 
the  heavy  boots  affected  by  the  mountaineers  ;  he 
had  a  grave,  meditative  face,  and  he  fixed  his  eyes 
upon  the  patient  on  the  bed  with  that  expression 
of  proprietorship  which  everywhere  marks  the  phy 
sician.  Otherwise  Shattuck  could  not  have  believed 
his  senses.  "Are  you — are  you — "  he  stammered, 
overlooking  in  his  agitation  the  slight  gesture  of 
salutation  with  which  the  stranger  recognized  his 
presence  there — "  are  you  a  regular  graduate  of  a 
medical  college  ?" 

The  mountaineer  bent  a  lack-lustre  eye  upon  him. 
"  Which  ?"  he  said,  in  amazement. 

"  What  sort  of  doctor  are  you  ?"  demanded  Shat 
tuck,  troublous  recollections  of  the  old  idea  of  charms 
and  spells  rising  to  his  mind. 

"I  be  a  verb  doctor,  by  the  grace  o'  God,"  re 
turned  the  mountain  practitioner.  He  took,  without 
more  ado,  the  candle  from  his  host,  and  with  it  in 
one  hand  looked  fixedly  down  at  the  white  face,  all 
streaked  and  stained,  upon  the  pillow. 

Shattuck,  constrained  by  every  sentiment  of  loy 
alty  to  his  friend  of  which  he  was  capable,  quivering 
with  undeserved  self-reproach  that  he  had  not  earlier 
made  inquiries  which  might  have  elicited  the  nature  of 
the  aid  to  be  summoned,  frantic  with  anxiety  for  the 
result,  and  lest  he  omit  some  essential  duty,  turned 
hastily,  and  without  another  word  went  straight  down 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.    51 

the  stairs.  With  some  instinctive  policy  animating 
him,  he  sought  out  the  bridegroom  as  most  likely  to 
be  won  over  to  his  theory.  This  was  a  tall,  heavily 
built  young  mountaineer,  pleased  with  the  conspic- 
uousness  of  his  position  in  proportion  as  his  wife,  a 
demure  and  staid  young  woman,  was  abashed  and 
overcome  by  it.  He  had  that  universal  bridal  man 
ner,  intimating  a  persuasion  that  nobody  else  has 
ever  been  married.  He  received  Shattuck  with  the 
kindly  condescension  likely  to  grace  one  who  has 
attained  so  unique  a  distinction. 

"  I  suppose,  Mr.  Pettingill,"  said  Shattuck,  craftily, 
"  that  you  don't  feel  at  home  here  now,  as  you  are 
going  away  to  live  among  the  Gossams.  I  hear  you 
have  built  a  house  across  the  creek  from  your  father- 
in-law.  I  suppose  you  feel  quite  one  with  the  Gos 
sams  now." 

"  Oh,  Lord,  no !  that  I  ain't,"  declared  the  bride 
groom,  with  the  precipitate  denial  of  one  whose  se 
cret  fear  has  been  put  into  words,  and  who  seeks  to 
boldly  exorcise  it.  "  I  hain't  married  all  the  fambly  ; 
one's  a  plenty,  thanky.  Ye  needn't  be  afeared  ter 
speak  yer  mind  'bout  'em  ter  me.  I'd  hev  liked 
Malviny  jes'  ez  well  ef  she  hadn't  been  a  Gossam." 

The  thought  of  the  rose  that  by  any  other  name 
would  smell  as  sweet  came  incongruously  into  Shat- 
tuck's  mind  for  the  instant,  but  he  rejoined  hastily : 

"  Wei  If-  if  I  could  get  speech  of  any  member  ,of 
the  Petting-ill  family  that  cares  anything  for  the 
name,  I  would  say  that  Mr.  Pettingill  has  behaved 
very  strangely — sending  for  an  herb  doctor  instead 
of  the  kind  of  physician  that  Mr.  Rhodes  would  have 
if  he  were  at  home." 


52         IN    THE 

"  Lord !"  exclaimed  the  young  fellow,  laying  his 
hand  on  Shattuck's  shoulder  and  looking  earnestly 
into  his  eyes,  as  they  stood  on  the  porch  beside  one 
of '  the  flaring  windows,  "  Phil  Craig,  they  say,  kin 
all  but  raise  the  dead ;  he's  reg'lar  gifted — a  plumb 
yerb  doctor.  The  t'other  kind — why,  they  pizens 
ye "  —  kindly  didactic,  and  with  a  rising  inflec 
tion. 

"  Well,  people  in  Colbury  will  think  it  mighty 
strange  that  Mr.  Pettingill  didn't  send  for  the  kind  of 
doctor  that  Mr.  Rhodes  would  have  had  if  he  could 
have  chosen,"  Shattuck  retorted,  with  a  frown.  "  You 
all  vote  against  Rhodes,  don't  you  ?" 

The  countenance  of  the  bridegroom  was  embar 
rassed  and  troubled.  Perhaps  he  thought  the  festiv 
ities  made  to  celebrate  his  happiness  had  been  suf 
ficiently  overcast  without  further  clouding  them  with 
political  differences. 

"  But  we-uns  hain't  got  no  gredge  at  Mr.  Rhodes," 
he  stipulated. 

"  I  should  be  much  grieved,"  continued  Shattuck, 
"  if  Mr.  Pettingill — he  seems  to  be  a  worthy  man — 
should  be  included  in  the  prosecution,  or  any  mem 
ber  of  his  family  involved  in  any  way ;  but  of  course 
Mr.  Rhodes's  relatives  and  political  friends  will  make 
things  hot  if — if  he  should  die  here  with  medical  at 
tendance  denied  him." 

"  Good  Lord !"  the  young  man  burst  out,  "  we-uns 
hed  nuthin'  ter  do  with  it — jes'  Fee  Guthrie.  Do  ye 
think  they'd  prosecute  Fee?  'Twar  jes'  a  fight — a 
sorter  fight — but  we-uns — " 

"  If  I  knew  where  a  sure-enough  doctor  lives,  or 
could  find  anybody  that  does  know,  I'd  have  him 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         53 

here  if  he  had  to  come  a  hundred  miles.  I've  asked 
and  asked,  and  nobody  seems  to  know." 

"  Wait  a  minute  " — the  bridegroom  turned  to  in 
tercept  old  Zack  Pettingill  as  he  came  down  the 
stairs. 

Bold  as  Shattuck's  policy  had  been,  he  quaked  to 
witness  his  own  suggestion  of  political  enmity,  ma 
licious  denial  of  medical  attendance,  and  the  possi 
bility  of  prosecution,  introduced  as  a  threat  into 
Zack  Pettingill's  honest  and  hospitable  conscious 
ness.  And  yet  he  could  but  laugh  at  the  manner 
of  it.  In  order  to  capture  and  speak  apart  to  his 
parent,  the  bridegroom  had  drawn  the  old  man  al 
most  behind  the  door.  In  fact,  while  the  son  stood 
visible,  with  earnest  and  urgent  gestures  and  grave 
and  deprecatory  countenance,  the  effect  of  his  com 
munication  upon  the  unseen  Pettingifl  was  only 
intimated  by  the  agitation  which  beset  the  door,  as 
the  old  man  floundered  behind  it  in  the  activities  of 
his  anger,  and  his  contemptuous  floutings  of  the  sug 
gested  implication  in  crime.  Now  the  door  quivered 
on  its  hinges :  now  it  received  a  blow  that  would 
have  sent  it  flaunting  wide  had  not  the  young  man's 
hand  restrained  it ;  and  finally,  when  it  became  quiet, 
Shattuck  divined  the  success  of  his  effort  before  the 
bridegroom  turned  away  and  the  liberated  father 
emerged  from  behind  it.  He  was  not  prepared,  how 
ever,  for  the  glower  of  deep-seated  hatred  which  Zack 
Pettingill  cast  upon  him  through  the  open  window  be 
fore  he  turned  toward  the  stairs.  Shattuck  felt  sud 
denly  wounded ;  the  blood  mounted  to  his  face  as  if 
he  had  received  a  blow  ;  and  if  he  had  for  the  moment 
forgotten  that  in  these  mountains  the  poorest  honest 
4 


54      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES"  COUNTRY. 

man  holds  his  dignity  as  safe  from  the  imputation  of 
crime  as  if  he  were  a  magnate  and  millionaire,  and 
resents  it  as  dearly,  what  other  course  could  he  have 
pursued  with  the  interests  he  had  at  stake — his  own 
conscience  and  his  friend's  life  ?  As  he  paced  to 
and  fro  the  short  limits  of  the  porch,  there  sounded 
almost  immediately  the  quick  thud  of  galloping  hoofs 
down  the  rocky  hill,  surging  through  the  river,  be 
coming  fainter  on  the  opposite  bank,  and  so  dying 
away.  In  his  preoccupation  he  attached  no  impor 
tance  to  this,  as  the  guests  were  now  beginning  to 
take  leave.  Only  when  young  Pettingill  reappeared, 
a  trifle  breathless  and  with  an  excited  eye,  and  the 
comment,  "  We  sent  fur  Doctor  Ganey  —  seventeen 
mile — Steve  Yates  rid  fur  him,"  did  Shattuck  con 
nect  the  swift  departure  that  he  had  unconsciously 
remarked  with  the  success  of  his  mission.  He  did 
not  triumph  in  it  as  he  had  expected.  His  sensitive 
ness,  with  which  he  was  well  enough  endowed  to 
keep  him  amply  supplied  with  unhappiness,  was  all 
astir  within  him  ;  the  knowledge  of  the  wounds  that 
he  had  dealt — deep,  bitter,  and  intentional — had  de 
veloped  a  double  edge  and  a  sharp  retroaction.  He 
doubted  if  in  all  Zack  PettingilPs  hard,  limited,  and 
most  respectable  life  he  had  ever  been  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  ignominy  of  such  suspicions  and 
such  threats.  Not  that  the  taking  of  life  on  a  griev 
ous  provocation  and  an  implacable  quarrel  was  held, 
in  the  mountain  ethics,  reprehensible ;  the  deep  tur 
pitude  lay  in  the  suggested  circumstances — a  conspir 
acy,  a  political  grudge,  and  the  victim  a  guest.  It 
would  have  been  far  indeed  from  his  own  roof-tree 
could  Zack  Pettingill,  the  very  soul  of  hospitality, 


55 

have  contemplated  the  infamy  of  which  Shattuck 
had  affected  to  suspect  him.  He  wondered  a  trifle 
that  so  ignorant,  so  coarse,  so  violent,  so  lawless  a 
man  should  be  so  vulnerable  in  the  more  aesthetic 
sensibilities,  forgetting  that  traits  of  character  are  as 
the  solid  wood,  indigenous ;  and  that  cultivation  is, 
after  all,  only  surface  polish  and  veneer,  and  can  never 
give  to  common  deal  the  rich  heart,  the  weight,  and 
the  value  of  the  walnut  or  the  oak. 

"  My  wife  an'  all  her  folks  air  a-goin'  now,  an'  I 
reckon  I'll  hev  ter  hustle  along  an'  jine  'em,"  drawled 
the  bridegroom,  presently.  "  I  reckon  they  hev  hed 
enough  o'  dancin'  an'  fiddlin'  an'  sech.  Thar  ain't 
been  ez  much  dancin'  in  the  cove  afore  I  got  married 
sence  the  Big  Smoky  war  built — 'thout,"  he  qualified, 
meditatively,  for  he  was  a  man  of  speculation — "  'thout 
'twar  the  Injuns.  Some  'low  ez  Injuns  war  plumb 
gin  over  ter  dancin'  in  the  old  times  " — with  the  suf 
ficient  air  of  an  ethnological  authority — "  war  dances 
an'  scalp  dances."  He  smiled  in  slow  ridicule! 
"  Folks  didn't  dance  none  in  the  war  ez  we  hed 
hyar-abouts — Fed  and  Cornfed — 'thout  ye  call  some 
o'  them  quicksteps  on  the  back  track  dancin' — they 
war  lively  enough  for  ennything  \  But " — with  the 
manner  of  resuming  the  subject — "  they  danced  at  the 
weddin'  t'other  night  at  Mr.  Gossam's,  an'  they  hev 
danced  at  the  infair,  an'  now  I  hope  nobody  ain't 
goin'  ter  gin  no  mo'  dances ;  leastwise  not  in  com- 
plimint  ter  Malviny  an'  me.  They  air  toler'ble 
tiresome  ter  me,"  he  protested,  with  a  blase  air. 
"  An'  I  ain't  s'prised  none  ef  they  air  devices  o'  the 
devil  ennyhow,  ez  ennybody  mought  know  from 
the  eend  this  one  hev  kem  ter.  Malviny  ain't  no 


dancer,  an'  air  mighty  religious,  an'  all  this  hyar 
fiddlin'  an'  glorify  in'  hev  been  sorter  terrify  in'  ter 
her.  I  ain't  pions  rayse'f,"  he  concluded,  with  an  air 
which  to  Shattuck's  discerning  observation  sufficient 
ly  identified  his  type  as  the  incipient  man  of  the 
world.  "  I  expec'  ter  go  ter  heav'n  in  partnership 
with  Malviny — she's  good  enough  fur  two." 

He  strolled  off  to  join  a  group  whose  departure 
was  impeded  by  much  hospitable  insistence  to  re 
main  longer,  and  by  the  presentation  of  bundles 
of  the  supper  wrapped  in  paper ;  for,  alack !  the 
disaster  had  preceded  the  opening  of  the  supper- 
room,  and  its  triumphs  were  and  would  ever  be  only 
a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  disappointment  was 
stamped  into  the  lines  of  Mrs.  Pettingill's  worn  coun 
tenance.  It  seemed  a  perversely  withheld  opportu 
nity  of  joy  in  her  restricted  life,  since  it  was  deemed 
unmeet  that  the  formal  feasting  should  proceed  while 
Leonard  Rhodes  lay  up-stairs  at  the  point  of  death. 
She  could  only  cut  great  slices  of  cake,  and  press  them 
upon  her  guests,  with  the  wheezing  adjuration,  "  Take 
it  home,  andjedge  what  luck  we  hed  with  the  bakin' !" 

She  had  been  altogether  despoiled  of  the  fine  show 
that  the  table  in  full  array  would  have  made,  but  the 
apple-brandy  that  had  constituted  Mr.  Pettingill's 
share  of  the  preparations,  in  circulation  since  the 
first  arrival,  had  by  no  means  been  in  vain,  lie  was 
disposed  to  offer  his  example  as  one  that  might  with 
profit  be  adopted.  "  I  always  b'lieved  in  a  handed 
supper,"  he  remarked.  "  Then,  ef — ef — an  accident 
war  ter  happen'  'fore  'twar  all  over,  folks  wouldn't  go 
away  hongry  from  yer  house,  nohow.  But  the  wim- 
min-folks  air  so  gin  over  ter  pride  an'  fixin's  that 


they  air  obleeged  ter  set  out  a  table  all  tricked  up  an' 
Unified  off." 

The  violinist,  however,  was  esteemed  in  some  sort 
exempt  from  the  rule  of  etiquette  which  necessitated 
the  immediate  dispersing  of  the  company  without  the 
formal  supper.  A  curious  eye  might  have  discovered 
him  under  the  staircase  which  led  to  the  wounded 
man's  room.  He  sat  with  the  "  lap-board  " — usually 
used  in  cutting  out  the  men's  clothes — across  his 
knee,  and  here  was  ranged  a  liberal  choice  of  the 
viands  which  the  shed-room  had  contained.  Most  of 
the  household  dogs — there  were  twenty  odd — were 
underfoot  in  the  shed-room,  presiding  with  a  speech 
less  frenzy  of  interest  in  the  partition  of  the  good 
things ;  but  two  of  the  younger  ones  sat  at  the  fid 
dler's  feet,  and  watched,  with  heads  canted  askew 
and  the  glistening  eyes  of  admiration,  the  prodigies 
of  his  execution.  The  stiff  tail  of  one  of  them — a 
pointer — sweeping  the  floor,  now  and  again  came  in 
contact  with  the  violin  that  stood  on  end  in  the  cor 
ner,  eliciting  a  discordant  twanging  of  the  strings, 
and  a  low,  hollow,  resonant  murmur ;  whereupon  the 
dog  would  rise  with  a  knitted,  puzzled  brow  and  an 
air  of  irritated  interruption,  only  to  seat  himself  anew, 
and  with  a  bland  and  freshened  interest  resume  his 
earnest  watch  upon  the  violinist's  movements.  Again 
he  would  wag  his  tail  in  the  joy  of  his  heart,  again 
strike  inadvertently  the  strings  of  the  instrument, 
and  once  more  arise  to  vainly  investigate  the  mystery 
of  "  this  music  in  the  air." 

Occasionally  the  closed  door  hard  by  opened  sud 
denly  to  disclose  Mrs.  Pettingill's  anxious  face  and 
gray  head,  as  she  cast  a  searching  glance  to  discern 


58         IN    THE 

what  havoc  the  fiddler  had  succeeded  in  making  in 
the  good  things  set  before  him.  She  added  to  the 
normal  drawl  of  the  mountaineers  an  individual 
wheeze  of  singular  propitiations,  and  implying  cor 
dial  and  confidential  relations.  There  may  be  more 
beautiful  sounds,  but  none  of  more  suave  and 
soothing  effect  than  that  husky,  "  Jack,  jes'  try  a 
glass  o'  this  hyar  cherry-bounce  along  with  a  bite  o' 
pound-cake  " — as  she  extended  the  "  bite,"  which,  in 
point  of  size,  might  have  discouraged  the  jaws  of  the 
giant  Cormoran,  but  never  Jack  Brace's.  "  It'll  rest 
ye  mightily,  arter  all  the  fiddlin'  ye  hev  done."  And 
again,  "  Jack,  hev  ye  ever  tasted  my  sweet-spiced 
peach  pickles  ?" 

Jack  had,  indeed.  But  Jack  said  he  never  had,  in 
order  that  he  might  renew  the  gustatory  delights 
that  he  remembered. 

Now  and  then  less  friendly  eyes  gazed  in  upon 
the  nook.  A  gigantic  mountaineer,  slowly  strolling 
through  the  half-deserted  scene,  came  to  a  full  halt 
hard  by,  leaned  peeringly  forward,  took  a  step  clos 
er,  and,  with  his  shaggy-bearded  face  inclined  phar 
isaically  over  the  well-filled  lap-board,  demanded,  in 
a  tone  of  gruff  reproof : 

"  What  air  ye  a-doin'  of  hyar,  gormandizing  like 
ye  hedn't  hed  nuthin'  ter  eat  fur  a  week  an'  better, 
an'  a  man  dyin'  up-steers  ?" 

"Ye  talk  like  I  war  a-nibblin'  on  Len  Rhodes," 
cried  Jack  Brace,  angered  by  the  mere  suggestion 
that  etiquette  required  that  he  should  desist.  "  My 
goin'  hongry  ain't  a-goin'  ter  holp  him,  an'  my  eatin' 
arter  fiddlin'  all  night  ain't  a-goin'  ter  hender.  Ef  he 
can't  go  ter  heaven  'count  o'  me  an'  this  leetle  bran- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         59 

dy  peach " — as  lie  held  up  the  appetizing  morsel 
both  the  dogs  rose  up  on  their  nimble  hind-legs  in 
pathetic  misapprehension  of  his  intention,  their  eyes 
widening  with  dismay  as  he  withdrew  the  dainty 
effectually  from  view — "  why,  he  ain't  got  enough 
religion  ter  git  thar,  that's  all !" 

Shattuck,  going  up-stairs,  glanced  down,  upon 
hearing  the  words,  at  the  cosy  nook  and  the  fiddler, 
and  was  reminded  anew  of  his  friend's  danger,  his 
sense  of  achievement  in  carrying  his  point  having 
served  for  a  time  to  dull  his  anxiety.  The  room  had 
taken  on  that  strange,  discordant,  forlorn  effect  which 
is  characteristic  of  a  scene  of  gayety  overpast,  and  is 
never  compassed  by  mere  bareness,  or  disarray,  or  dis 
use.  There  was  a  pervasive  sense  of  expended  forces, 
as  if  all  the  elation  and  effervescent  spirit  exhaling 
here  had  left  a  veritable  vacuum.  The  candles  on 
shelf  and  niche  and  table  were  sputtering  in  their 
sockets  or  burning  dimly.  Here  and  there  moun 
taineers  slouched  about,  awaiting  their  womankind, 
who  presently  flustered  out  of  the  shed-room  wrapped 
in  shawls,  and  with  big  bundles  of  the  "  supper  "  so 
unhappily  transformed  into  a  "  snack."  There  were 
chairs  tilted  back  against  the  walls  as  the  spectators 
of  the  festivities  had  left  them.  A  saddle  or  two 
and  a  trace-chain  and  some  bits  of  harness  were  ly 
ing  about  the  floor,  where  they  had  been  temporarily 
disposed  by  the  owners,  engaged  in  "  gearing  up  " 
the  teams  without.  Now  and  again  voices  could  be 
heard  calling  refractory  beasts  to  order,  but  dulled 
by  the  distance,  and  partaking  of  the  languor  of  the 
hour.  The  baby,  who  had  danced  as  assiduously  as 
the  best,  albeit  its  walking  days  were  not  yet  well 


ushered  in,  had  succumbed  at  last,  and  lay,  a  slumber 
ing  heap  of  pink  flesh  and  blue  calico,  upon  the  floor. 
Its  attitude  demonstrated  the  elasticity  of  its  youth 
ful  limbs,  and  its  hands  clutched  one  of  the  pink 
feet  that  had  done  such  yeoman  service  earlier  in  the 
evening.  An  old  hound,  bound  to  the  spot  by  the 
talismanic  phrase,  "  Guard  him  !"— a  duty  from  which 
only  death  itself  could  lure  him — sat  bolt  upright  by 
the  prostrate  figure,  and  looked  now  with  sleepy 
eyes  and  cavernous  yawns  at  the  departing  guests, 
and  now  became  preternaturally  vigilant,  and  uttered 
wistful  wheezes  of  despair  and  envy  as  the  hopeful 
gambols  of  the  young  dogs  about  the  munching  fid 
dler  caught  his  attention.  The  whole  picture  grew 
dim  and  hazy  with  its  flickering  lights,  and  fluctuated 
suddenly  into  darkness,  as  if  it  had  slipped  from  act 
uality  into  a  mere  memory,  as  Shattuck  went  farther 
up  the  stair  and  the  roof-room  gathered  shape  and 
consistency  before  him.  The  window  at  one  end 
still  held  the  glamour  of  the  moonlight,  the  silver 
green  of  the  swaying  foliage,  the  freshness  and  the 
sparkle  of  the  dew.  He  heard  the  pigeons  cooing 
drowsily.  The  wolf-skins  swinging  from  the  rafters 
caught  the  gleam  of  the  candle,  and  borrowed  a  sleek 
and  rich  lustre.  The  focus  of  the  tallow  dip  itself 
glowed  yellow  in  the  midst  of  its  divergent  rays, 
that  grew  dim  as  they  stretched  ever  farther  among 
the  duskily  brown  shadows  of  the  place.  Now  and 
again  it  was  eclipsed  as  figures,  ministering  to  the 
wounded  man,  passed  before  it.  Suddenly  they 
drew  back.  Rhodes's  face,  distinct  upon  the  pillow, 
caught  the  light  full  upon  it.  Shattuck  started  for 
ward,  a  great  throb  of  relief  astir  at  his  heart,  and  a 


61 

loud  exclamation,  incoherent,  upon  his  lips.  For  his 
friend  had  opened  his  eyes,  alight  with  his  own  old 
identity  ;  his  face,  pallid,  and  with  smears  of  blood 
faintly  discernible,  although  much  of  it  had  been 
washed  away,  wore  a  languid  smile.  It  seemed  that 
the  element  of  his  being  which  was  strongest  in  him, 
his  sense  of  postulance,  of  candidacy  before  the  peo 
ple,  was  reasserted  first  of  all  his  faculties. 

"  Did  I— did  I— hurt  anybody  ?"  he  faltered  ;  "  I 
didn't  mean  to  hurt  anybody."  Then,  as  he  seemed 
to  realize  his  surroundings,  his  memory  revived. 

"  Where's  Fee  ?  Fee  didn't  get  hurt,  did  he  ? 
Where  am  I?"  He  lifted  himself  upon  his  elbow 
and  looked  waveringly  about.  "  Lord  !"  he  exclaimed, 
impressed  by  the  silence,  "  you  didn't  stop  the  danc 
ing  on  my  account,  Mr.  Pettingill  ?  I've  spoiled  the 
party !  Well !  well !  I'll  never  be  able  to  look  Mrs. 
Pettingill  in  the  face  again."  And  he  sank  back  on 
the  pillow. 

The  surly  countenance  beneath  the  host's  grizzled 
shock  of  hair  took  on  a  milder  expression.  The 
stiff  grooves  and  lines  of  the  lips  relaxed,  and  might 
be  said  to  have  released  a  smile.  "We  kin  spare 
the  party,  Mr.  Rhodes — spare  it  a  sight  easier'n  we 
kin  spare  you-uns."  Then,  as  Shattuck  unwisely 
pressed  up  to  the  side  of  the  bed,  the  old  man's  eyes 
suddenly  assumed  a  hard  glitter  of  triumph  with  the 
hot  anger  that  made  him  breathe  quickly  and  ster- 
torously,  and  curved  the  lines  of  his  stiff  old  mouth. 

"  Thar  be  some"  he  remarked,  "  ez  will  'low  I  be 
jes'  glad  ter  git  shet  o'  bein'  prosecuted.  Me  prose 
cuted,  'kase  ye  an'  Fee  tuk  ter  tusslin7  in  the  mid 
dle  o'  the  dancin',  an'  Fee  war  the  bcs'  man.  Prose- 


62         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

cuted  /"  He  snorted  out  the  word  with  a  repulsion 
that  made  the  very  tone  odious. 

Rhodes,  visibly  agitated,  pulled  himself  into  a  sit 
ting  posture.  "  Who  —  who  —  said  that  —  such  a 
thing  ?"  Still  dazed  and  confused  though  he  was, 
his  eyes,  sweeping  the  by-standers,  rested  with  the 
certainty  of  reproach  upon  Shattuck.  There  was  a 
momentary  silence.  "  Understand  one  thing,  Mr. 
Pettingill,"  he  said  at  length,  with  a  quick  flush  upon 
his  pale  face  that  had  seemed  to  grow  lean  in  the 
last  hour — "  understand  this :  alive  or  dead,  no  man 
speaks  for  me." 

He  sank  back  once  more  upon  his  pillow,  which  the 
herb  doctor  had  readjusted  with  a  hand  that  was  as 
soft  and  listless  as  any  fine  lady's ;  he  lifted  the  in 
jured  man's  head  into  another  position. 

"  It  air  mo'  level,"  he  observed,  learnedly.  "  This 
slit  in  his  head  air  a-goin'  ter  cure  up  right  off,"  he 
continued,  looking  with  mild  blue  eyes  at  Shattuck, 
who  stood  flushed  and  indignant  among  them  all, 
feeling  repudiated  in  the  odd  turn  that  affairs  had 
taken.  "  'Tain't  goin'  ter  inflame  none,  hevin'  bled 
so  much.  He  warn't  shot  nowhar;  jes'  cut  on  the 
head.  His  hair  is  singed  some,  whar  the  powder 
burnt  it,  I  reckon.  He  mustn't  git  up,  though,  ter- 
day  nor  ter-morrow,  else  he'll  fever." 

If  Shattuck,  with  the  cowardice  that  is  the  essen 
tial  sequence  of  a  well-intentioned  mistake,  hoped 
that  no  more  might  be  said  by  Mr.  Pettingill,  he 
understood  little  of  the  pertinacity  and  endurance 
that  can  animate  him  who  presses  his  breast  against 
the  thorn.  The  host  had  been  unspeakably  afflicted  by 
the  bare  suggestion  of  foul  play.  It  had  served  as  a 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY.         63 

goad  when  naught  else  might  have  moved  him.  Even 
although  its  efficacy  was  nullified,  he  could  not  pass 
it  by,  but  again  and  again  in  review  he  evoked  all  its 
capacities  of  poignancy.  "  Ye  shet  up,  Phil  Craig," 
he  said,  his  manner  of  rebuke  palpably  affected. 
"  Ye  ain't  fittcn  ter  doctor  the  *  quality.'  I  hev  lied 
ter  send  Steve  Yates  a-cavortin'  seventeen  mile  in  the 
midnight  ter  fetch  a  doctor  ter  physic  Mr.  Rhodes 
fur  a  leetle  gash  side  o'  the  head !  May  keep  we-uns 
from  bein'  prosecuted,  though ;  leastwise  we'll  hope 
so." 

Rhodes,  appalled,  could  only  stare  with  amazement 
at  Shattuck.  How  his  friend  could  have  brought 
himself  to  consider  bodily  health  before  political  ad 
vantage,  and  yet  call  himself  a  friend,  was  a  thing 
which  he  could  not  comprehend.  It  was  all  too 
fresh  for  even  the  sophistical  comfort  of  believing 
that  he  had  tried  to  do  all  for  the  best.  He  could 
only  look  at  Shattuck  with  eyes  full  of  wonder  and 
reproach,  doubly  effective  from  his  reduced  and  prone 
estate  ;  and  Shattuck,  indignant  and  resentful,  could 
only  turn  short  about  and  walk  away.  He  repented 
that  he  had  done  aught.  And  then  he  wondered  how 
any  man  of  sense  could  have  done  aught  else.  His 
dignity  was  affronted  by  the  position  in  which  he 
found  himself.  He  despised  his  friend  for  the  pu 
sillanimous  time-serving  of  his  hearty  endorsement 
of  all  that  the  mountaineers  had  done  and  said.  And 
yet  he  could  but  acknowledge  that  this  was  ample. 
He  despised  himself  for  his  vicarious  fright,  his  over- 
serious  treatment  of  the  incident.  And  yet,  as  he 
recalled  the  scene — the  two  struggling,  swaying  fig 
ures,  the  savage  blow  with  the  butt  end  of  the  pistol, 


64         IN    THE 

the  sudden  discharge  of  the  weapon,  the  heavy  fall, 
the  long  insensibility — it  seemed  as  if  the  issue  were 
phenomenally  fortunate,  rather  than  such  as  might 
have  been  expected.  Amidst  all  the  nettling  subjects 
of  contemplation,  one  recurred  with  continually  har 
assing  suggestions — how  he  should  meet  the  physi 
cian  whom  he  had  caused  to  be  summoned  in  the 
midnight  from  the  distance  of  seventeen  miles,  when 
the  learning  or  the  ignorance  of  the  simple  herb  doc 
tor  had  so  amply  sufficed  for  the  emergency.  Caused 
to  be  summoned !  He  thought  of  Steve  Yates  rid 
ing  the  horse's  back  sore,  believing  that  a  dying  man 
lay  in  the  house.  As  he  heard  llhodes's  rollicking 
laughter — a  trifle  quavering,  to  be  sure — he  quailed 
before  the  idea  that  there  was  nothing  to  offer  the 
physician  when  he  should  arrive.  He  felt  that  he 
would  have  been  glad  of  a  diseased  liver  or  an  in 
jured  brain  to  justify  his  proceedings.  He  began  in 
a  nervous  state  of  expectancy  to  pause  whenever  he 
reached  the  shadowy  window,  and  to  look  through 
the  silvered  branches  of  the  sycamore-tree,  fearing  to 
descry  perchance  a  mounted  figure  approaching  along 
the  winding  road.  All  vacant  it  was  as  it  curved, 
now  in  the  clear  sheen,  now  lost  in  the  black  shadow, 
reappearing  at  an  unexpected  angle,  as  if  in  the 
darkness  the  continuity  were  severed,  and  it  existed 
only  in  sinuous  sections.  Once  adown  the  dewy  way 
a  youthful  cavalier  spurred  with  a  maiden  mounted 
behind  him,  swiftly  passing  out  of  sight,  recalling  to 
the  imagination  some  romance  of  eld,  when  the 
damo.sel  fled  with  her  lover.  An  ox-cart  lumbering 
slowly  along,  with  its  burly,  nodding  team,  through 
the  illumined  spaces,  and  disappearing  in  intervals  of 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.    65 

obscurity,  the  motion  of  the  oxen's  horns  somehow 
vaguely  discerned  before  they  emerged  again  from" 
the  shadow,  illustrated  the  leisurely  ideal  of  mountain 
travel.  After  it  had  quite  vanished,  and  even  the 
sharp,  grating  creak  of  its  unoiled  running-gear  had 
been  lost  in  the  distance,  a  swift  canine  figure,  dis 
torted  by  speed  to  a  mere  caricature  of  its  species,  with 
tail  drooping,  with  ears  laid  back  close  to  its  head, 
darted  along  the  serpentine  curves — one  of  the  visit 
ors'  dogs,  just  made  aware  of  his  master's  departure, 
and  in  his  haste  to  overtake  the  jogging  vehicle  add 
ing  farcical  suggestions  of  comparison  to  its  slow 
progress. 

And  then  for  a  time  Shattuck,  pacing  the  length 
of  the  room  and  pausing  at  the  window,  marked 
neither  approach  nor  departure.  The  shadows  were 
lengthening ;  the  moon  was  low  in  the  sky  ;  the 
neighboring  massive  mountains  were  darkly  and 
heavily  empurpled  against  the  pensively  illumined 
horizon.  At  their  base  the  valley  slept ;  it  wot  little 
of  the  opaline  mists  that  gathered  above  it,  and  en 
meshed  elusive  enchantments  of  color,  which  van 
ished  before  the  steady  gaze  seeking  to  grade  them 
as  blue  or  amber  or  green,  and  to  fix  their  status  in 
the  spectrum.  A  strange  pause  seemed  to  hold  the 
world.  Only  the  pines  breathed  faintly.  Beneath 
their  boughs  he  saw  suddenly  Letitia  Pettingill  sit 
ting  on  a  log  of  the  great  wood-pile.  Her  pale-blue 
homespun  dress  seemed  white  in  the  moonlight. 
She  leaned  back,  her  hands  clasping  her  head,  which 
rested  upon  the  higher  logs  behind  her,  her  eyes 
fixed  contemplatively  upon  the  slow  sinking  of  the 
reddening  moon. 
5 


66         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

Another  had  observed  her  there.  It  was  only  a 
moment  or  two  before  a  tall  figure  sauntered  out 
from  the  house  and  stood  near  by  with  a  casual  air, 
surveying  not  her,  but  the  aspects  of  the  departing 
night  or  the  coming  day,  as  retrospection  or  antici 
pation  might  denominate  the  hour.  Shattuck  with  a 
frown  recognized  the  figure  ;  it  was  easily  marked  ; 
its  height  and  breadth  and  muscle  would  suffice  to 
distinguish  it,  without  the  added  testimony  of  the 
long  tousled  ringlets  and  the  square,  stern,  martial 
face,  overshadowed  by  a  broad-brimmed  hat.  Guth- 
rie's  pistol  and  a  knife  gleamed  in  his  leather  belt. 
His  long  boots  jingled  with  the  replaced  spurs,  but 
he  made  no  move  toward  departure,  and  his  horse 
still  stood,  half  in  the  shadow  and  half  in  the  sheen, 
drowsing  under  a  dogwood-tree.  It  was  only  after 
he  had  waited  some  time  thus  silent  and  motionless 
that  he  slowly  cast  his  surly,  long-lashed  eyes  toward 
Letitia.  If  she  had  seen  him,  she  made  no  sign. 
Still  clasping  the  back  of  her  shapely  head  with  both 
uplifted  hands,  she  sat,  half  reclining,  against  the 
logs,  and  watched  the  moon  go  down.  The  initia 
tive  was  forced  upon  him.  There  was  a  latent  capac 
ity  for  expressiveness  suggested  in  the  surprise  and 
uncertainty  and  subtle  disappointment  depicted  upon 
his  face.  He  advanced  slowly  to  the  wood -pile, 
and  sat  down  on  one  of  the  lower  logs,  his  booted 
and  spurred  legs  stretched  out  before  him,  one  hand 
upon  his  hip,  his  hat  thrust  back,  his  ringleted  head 
bare  to  the  dew  and  the  sheen.  Still  she  did  not 
move  nor  glance  toward  him.  As  his  eyes  absently 
traversed  the  space  about  them,  he  caught  sight  of 
Shattuck  turning  away  from  the  roof-room  window. 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         67 

Wh ether  from  a  full  heart,  or  in  despair  that  she 
would  break  the  silence,  or  on  a  sudden  impulse 
which  the  glimpse  of  the  stranger  roused,  he  spoke 
abruptly,  reverting  to  the  scenes  of  the  evening. 

"  I  reckon  ye  air  in  an'  about  sati'fied  now  with 
what  ye  hev  up-ed  an'  done,"  he  drawled,  slowly. 

She  unclasped  her  hands  that  she  might  turn*  her 
head  and  look  steadily  at  him  for  a  moment.  Her 
lustrous  illumined  blue  eyes  either  showed  their  fine 
color  in  the  ethereal  light  of  the  moon,  or  the  recol 
lection  of  it  was  substituted  for  the  sense  of  it  in  the 
sudden  adequateness  of  their  expression.  Her  gaze 
relaxed,  and  she  resumed  her  former  attitude.  The 
interval  was  so  long  before  she  spoke  that  the  reply 
seemed  hardly  pertinent. 

"  Ever  see  me  wear  a  shootin'-iron  ?"  she  de 
manded.  Her  voice  was  not  loud,  but  it  had  a  vibra 
tory  quality  like  that  of  a  stringed  instrument,  rather 
than  a  flute-like  tone. 

He  stared  at  her.  "  Hey  ?"  he  demanded.  "  What 
ye  say  ?" 

She  did  not  change  her  posture  now.  "  Ever  see 
me  pound  ennybody  on  the  head  with  a  shootin'- 
iron  ?"  she  continued. 

"  Shucks  !"  he  cried,  slowly  apprehending  her 
meaning  ;  "ye  can't  git  out'n  it  that-a-way." 

"  I  never  war  in  it.  When  ye  see  somebody  o'  my 
size  in  a  fight  with  one  o'  yer  size,  let  me  know  it." 

"'Twar  yer  fault,  an'  ye  know  that  full  well," 
he  made  himself  plain,  with  an  intonation  of  sever- 
ity. 

"My  fault?  Mercy!"  she  cried,  "/wouldn't 
hev  bruk  up  that  dance  fur  a  bushel  o'  sech  ez  ye  an' 


68      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

Rhodes !"  She  gave  a  gurgling  laugh  of  retrospec 
tive  pleasure. 

A  moment's  silence  ensued,  while  he  pushed  back 
his  hair  to  look  gloweringly  at  the  half-reclining  fig 
ure,  which,  although  not  moving,  had  contrived  to 
take  on  an  air  of  flouting  indifference. 

<?Ye  air  a  mighty  small  matter,"  he  said,  scath 
ingly,  "  fur  me  an'  Rhodes  ter  make  ourselves  sech 
fools  about." 

"  An'  sech  big  fools  !"  she  cried,  with  animation. 
"  Whenst  I  feel  obligated  ter  see  I'm  a  fool,  it's  sech 
a  comfort  ter  know  I  ain't  much  of  a  fool." 

He  said  nothing  in  reply,  feeling  too  clumsy  and 
ponderous  to  follow  the  attack  with  so  lithe  and 
elusive  an  enemy.  He  did  not  definitely  realize  it, 
but  in  dropping  his  aggressions  he  assumed  far  more 
potent  weapons. 

"  O  my  Lord  A'mighty !"  he  groaned,  putting 
his  head  in  one  hand,  and  covering  his  eyes  as  he 
supported  his  elbow  upon  the  log  behind  him  ;  "  it 
don't  make  much  diff'ence  whose  fault  'tis.  /  hev 
ter  suffer  fur  it.  /  hev  ter  suffer  fur  everything. 
Sufferin'  air  what  I  war  born  fur,  I  reckon.  Least 
wise  I  ain't  seen  nuthin'  else." 

Something  faintly  stirred  the  trees ;  it  was  not  the 
wind,  for  it  did  not  seem  to  come  again  or  to  pass 
further.  It  was  as  if  they  were  awakening  from 
some  subtleties  of  sleep,  unknown  to  science,  that 
had  stilled  their  pulses.  Fragrance  was  in  the  air ; 
the  great  red  rose  in  the  grass  by  the  gate  was  burst 
ing  its  buds.  The  rank  weeds  asserted  their  iden 
tity.  Even  the  wood-pile  gave  evidence  of  walnut 
and  hickory  and  the  resinous  pine.  And  still  the 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S    COUNTRY.    69 

moon,  ever  reddening,  ever  dulling*,  sank  lower,  and 
the  stars  were  brightening  in  the  darkening  sky. 

Once  more  he  groaned.  "  I  never  war  cut  out  for 
a  fighter,"  he  declared.  "  Whenst  I  war  a  leetle  bit 
o'  a  boy,  an'  my  dad  married  agin  an'  brung  that 
everlastin'  wild-cat  o'  a  step-mam  o'  mine  home,  I 
war  in  a  mighty  notion  o'  bein'  frien'ly — leetle  liar — 
leetle  cowardly  fox  !  I  knowed  what  war  good  fur 
me,  an'  which  side  my  bread  war  buttered  on,  an'  she 
couldn't  beat  me  hard  enough  ter  make  me  hit  back 
or  sass  her.  I  war  fur  givin'  up  an'  takin'  mild  ez  a 
lam'  everything  she  hed  a  mind  ter  do  ter  me.  But 
arter  a  while  I  got  so  ez  whenst  she  beat  my  leetle 
brother  it  made  me  winge  an'  winge — she  couldn't 
hurt  sech  a  calloused  time-server  ez  me!  An'  so  I 
tnk  ter  hidin'  him  in  the  bresh  whenst  she  got  mad 
at  him.  An'  one  day  whenst  she  fund  him,  an'  tuk 
ter  larrapin'  him,  I  jes'  flew  at  her,  an'  I  bit  her  arm 
'mos'  through.  She  let  Ephraim  alone.  She  war 
skeered  at  me.  I  seen  it.  An'  I  tuk  ter  bitin'  arter 
that  like  a  cur-dog.  My  dad  lemme  'lone.  Vis'tors 
ez  kem  ter  the  house  war  warned  off'n  me.  I  begun 
ter  git  my  growth.  I  hed  an  arm  ez  growed  so  it 
could  lam  a  man  like  a  sledge-hammer ;  it  kep'  all 
the  boys  an'  everybody  else  offn  Ephraim,  ez  never 
war  a  fighter,  an'  let  him  git  some  growth,  an  hold 
up  his  head,  an'  try  ter  do  like  folks." 

He  had  dropped  his  hand  and  was  staring  at  her 
with  surprised  eyes.  She  was  leaning  forward,  the 
golden  moonlight  still  on  her  face.  Her  finely  cut 
lips  were  smiling.  She  held  out,  with  an  air  of  gay, 
mysterious  confidence,  a  tiny  object  between  her  fin 
ger  and  thumb. 


70         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  t  Hold  fast  what  I  give  ye,' "  she  quoted,  with  a 
low,  gurgling  triumphant  laugh. 

He  reached  out  and  took  from  her  with  slow  sus 
picion  a  pistol  ball,  turning  it  around,  and  looking  at 
her  with  an  air  of  suspended  comprehension  and 
doubt. 

"  I  fund  it  hyar  at  the  wood  -  pile ;  it  never 
teched  Rhodes.  He  ain't  much  hurt — his  senses  jes' 
knocked  out'n  him.  They  can't  do  nuthiu'  ter  you- 
uns  fur  sech  ez  that." 

"  They  better  not  try !"  he  cried,  belligerently. 
Then,  with  the  accents  of  scorn  :  "  D'ye  'low  ez  I  be 
a-troublin'  myse'f  'count  o'  sech  cattle  ez  Rhodes? 
Naw,  sir !  Nobody  air  a-goin'  ter  pester  me !  The 
whole  mounting,  an'  the  home  folks  an'  all,  hev  got 
mighty  perlite  ter  me,  an'  hev  been  fur  a  long  time." 
He  paused  meditatively.  "  Yes,  sir,"  he  exclaimed  ; 
"  peace  hev  kem  ter  me  by  the  pound  !"  He  smote 
his  massive  chest. 

Then,  after  another  silence,  he  sighed.  "  But  I  be 
troubled,"  he  resumed,  "  'kase  hyar  one  day  'bout  a 
year  ago  I  goes  ter  the  church  house.  I  always 
loved  the  Lord,  fur  He  war  persecuted,  an'  I  knowed 
He  felt  fur  me.  I  never  war  so  tuk  up  with  this 
worl'.  I  hain't  hed  no  pleasure  in  it.  I  yearned  fur 
a  better  one.  An'  durned  ef  the  thin-lipped,  turnip- 
hearted  preacher  didn't  git  up  an'  gin  out  the  doc 
trine  ef  enny  war  ter  hit  ye  on  one  cheek,  ye  mus' 
turn  the  tother  one  ;  fur  that's  religion  !  That  ain't 
my  policy,  an'  'tain't  my  practice.  An'  I  reckon  I'll 
hev  ter  go  ter  hell  jes'  whenst  I  war  a-settin'  myself 
in  the  hope  o'  heaven." 

He    drooped  his  head  upon   his  hand  again  and 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      71 

groaned  aloud.  "  I  hev  wondered,"  he  resumed,  his 
voice  somewhat  muffled  by  his  attitude,  "  ef  the  cuss 
read  that  in  the  Good  Book,  or  jes'  made  it  up  out'n 
his  own  head.  But  that  sayin'  hev  tormented  me  in 
the  midnight,  an'  tuk  my  sleep  from  me.  I  sorter 
feel  it  in  me  like  it  mus1  be  true.  Religion  can't  be 
so  easy  ez  jes'  lovin'  the  Lord.  It's  this  hyar  hevin' 
ter  love  yer  fellow-man  ez  makes  religion  so  durned 
hard  on  ye." 

A  cloud  was  in  the  west,  not  continuous,  but  with 
dusky  brown  strata  across  the  gilded  spaces  above 
the  purple  mountains  ;  its  shadows  lay  on  the  mists 
below  in  dull  streaks  amidst  the  shining  pearly  tone. 
When  the  moon,  so  golden,  so  great  now  and  glamour 
ous,  passed  behind  one  of  these  bars  of  vapor,  and 
even  the  sullen  cloud  was  tenderly  tinted  and  showed 
radiating  verges  of  dull  gold,  one  might  see  the  be 
reft  world  in  the  prosaic  gray  medium  of  the  day 
that  was  to  come. 

Once  more  he  looked  about  him  and  sighed. 
"  Why,"  he  argued,  "  I  couldn't  hev  got  on  with  all 
the  smitin'  folks  wanted  ter  do  ter  me  an'  Ephraim, 
'specially  Ephraim.  But  then  I  'low  ez  I  hev  got  the 
mounting  too  much  skeered  ter  fool  with  Ephraim 
or  me  nuther  now,  an'  mebbe  ef  I  sot  out  ter  repent 
right  hearty  I  mought  make  out  yit.  But  I  furgits 
— I  furgits !  I  can't  repent  more'n  a  haffen  hour 
at  a  time.  An'  hyar  ter-night — jes'  on  account  o' 
you-uns — I  hauls  off  agin,  an'  mighty  nigh  kills 
Rhodes !" 

"  'Twarn't  'count  o'  me,"  she  drawled,  with  the 
musical  vibration  that  seemed  to  follow  each  tone. 
She  had  resumed  her  former  attitude  and  her  air  of 


72         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

mocking'  gayety.  "Ye  air  carryin'  it  all  wrong. 
'Twarn't  account  o'  me  ye  half  killed  Rhodes.  'Twar 
all  account  o'  '  Tucker '  !" 

He  caught  the  gleam  of  her  laughing  eyes  as  he 
sat  with  his  elbows  on  his  knees  and  glowered  side 
long  at  her. 

"  I  am  small,"  she  protested,  in  dimpling  merri 
ment.  "  I  can't  ondertake  more'n  my  sheer.  Let 
'  Tucker '  take  the  blame.  Ye  warn't  dyin'  ter 
dance  with  me.  Ye  war  dyin'  not  ter  dance  with 
yerse'f." 

His  face  had  flushed.  His  eyes  were  full  of  grave 
resentment  as  they  met  her  laughing  glance.  "  I 
didn't  'low  ez  ye  war  so  onfeeling  ez  ye  'pear  ter  be," 
he  said,  reproachfully.  "  Ever  sence  that  time  at  the 
church  house  whenst  all  were  convicted  of  sin,  or 
saints,  'ceptin'  ye  an'  me  settin'  alongside  o'  one 
another,  I  hev  been  sorter  sorry  fur  ye,  an'  'lowed  ye 
war  sorter  sorry  fur  me." 

She  only  replied  with  a  laugh,  and  he  evidently 
deemed  futile  the  bid  for  sympathy  on  the  score  of 
religious  or  irreligious  fellowship,  for  he  recurred  to 
it  no  more. 

There  was  a  stir  along  the  path  ;  a  great  high- 
stepping  turkey  gobbler  was  slowly  coming  down  it, 
pausing  now  and  then,  and  turning  his  wattled  head 
askew  to  bring  his  eye  to  bear  upon  some  incident  of 
the  high  dewy  weeds,  that  might  promise  a  prelimi 
nary  bit  to  a  morning  meal.  The  rest  of  his  tribe, 
yet  roosting  on  a  bare  branch  of  an  otherwise  full- 
leaved  tree,  looked  big  and  burly  against  the  roseate 
sky ;  each  long  inquisitive  neck  now  and  again 
stretched  downward,  each  clutching  claw  ever  and 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         73 

anon  moving  uncertainly  along  the  perch  with  a  fluc 
tuating  intention  to  descend,  was  growing  momently 
more  distinct  as  the  gray  light  more  and  more  en 
croached  upon  the  moon,  all  obscured  now  by  one 
of  those  cloud  strata. 

In  this  interval  of  eclipse  Guthrie  asked,  sud 
denly,  from  out  the  dusk :  "  Ye  know  I  warn't 
'  Tucker  '  by  rights.  Whyn't  ye  wanter  dance  with 
me?" 

The  shadow  made  her  face  uncertain.  He  could 
only  see  that  she  did  not  move.  "  Did  I  say  I 
didn't  want  ter  dance  with  you-uns  ?  I  don't  'pear 
ter  remember  it."  Her  tones,  vibrant  with  mockery, 
were  a  trifle  louder  upon  the  air — a  trifle  strained  ; 
or  was  it  that  the  world  seemed  more  silent,  muffled 
in  the  cloud  that  hid  the  moon  ? 

"  What's  the  reason  ye  wanted  ter  dance  with 
Rhodes  ?"  he  demanded,  pursuing  the  subject. 

"Did  I  say  I  wanted  ter  dance  with  Rhodes?" 
She  asked  the  counter-question  with  the  sharp  note 
of  inquiry. 

He  detected  its  spuriousness,  but  her  enigmatical 
intention  embarrassed  him.  "  Ye  hed  ruther  dance 
with  him  than  with  me,"  he  said,  forlornly,  losing 
his  balance. 

"  Waal,  it  looks  sorter  that-a-way,  now  don't  it  ?" 
she  replied,  in  casual,  irrelevant  accents,  as  of  an 
unconcerned  third  person. 

The  moon  came  out  from  under  the  cloud  with  a 
great  flare  of  golden  glory.  Somewhere  a  cock's 
crow  sounded — clear,  mellow  tones,  delivered  with 
the  precision  and  aplomb  of  the  blast  of  a  bugle. 
The  wind  of  dawn  was  coining  over  the  eastern  sum- 


74         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

mits,  and  suddenly  the  moonlight  was  all  superfluous 
above  the  dark,  rugged  western  mountains,  for  the 
gray  day  was  on  the  land.  The  little  house  stood 
distinct  and  forlorn,  all  its  windows  flaring  to  show 
its  denuded  state  within ;  here,  and  there  a  tallow  dip 
still  sputtered.  And  if  by  moonlight  and  half  dis 
tinguished  the  loom  and  the  warping  bars  had  looked 
disconsolate  in  their  evicted  estate  under  the  trees, 
by  daylight  they  wore  so  sorry  and  so  consciously 
distraught  an  air  that  such  definite  expressiveness 
seemed  oddly  incongruous  with  their  inanimate  con 
dition.  All  atilt  and  unsteady  they  stood  on  the  un 
even  ground,  and  about  them  were  many  other  ob 
jects  of  the  household  gear  which  the  night  had 
served  to  obscure.  Pots  and  pans  were  scattered 
about  or  congregated  in  heaps.  Chests  and  bed 
steads,  bags  and  bundles,  quilting-frames  and  churns 
and  tubs — all  bore  token  how  the  behests  of  hospi 
tality  had  stripped  the  house  to  make  room  for  the 
dancing  and  the  exigent  demands  of  the  extensive 
supper-tables.  The  dogs  seemed  to  take  much  note 
of  this  unprecedented  dislocation  of  the  domestic  ad 
ministration,  and  they  went  about  with  inquisitive, 
exploring  noses,  and  tails  stilled  and  drooped  in  sus 
pended  judgment,  amongst  the  various  objects  which 
they  snuffingly  recognized.  One  old  fellow,  the 
evening  of  his  days  much  racked  by  rheumatism, 
seemed  to  discern  an  adequate  reason  in  all  the  con 
fusion,  as  he  curled  himself  to  doze  on  the  plump 
est  of  the  feather-beds,  with  a  large  bone  disposed 
within  easy  reach,  to  which  he  might  refer  as  incli 
nation  prompted.  The  spinning-wheels  all  teetered 
unsteadily  on  the  uneven  chips  about  the  wood-pile  ; 


COUNTRY.         75 

now  and  again  the  wheels  revolved  with  precipitate, 
erratic  action  as  the  wind  stirred  them.  Letitia  no 
longer  looked  at  the  moon — a  mere  pallid  simula 
crum  of  itself,  worn  thin  and  gauzy  against  the  pale 
west ;  one  might  hardly  know  if  it  still  hung  there 
when  the  first  red  dart  of  the  sun,  yet  below  the  hori 
zon,  was  aimed  at  the  flushing  zenith.  Her  dress 
was  blue  again,  not  white ;  her  face  had  something 
of  the  flush  of  the  sky  upon  it,  half  seen  though  it 
was.  She  had  bent  forward  to  the  little  flax  wheel, 
and  had  drawn  out  a  thread,  breaking  and  tangling 
it,  only  affecting  to  spin,  while  the  whimseys  of 
the  wind  turned  the  wheel.  The  light  was  distinct 
enough  to  show  even  the  pistol  ball  in  Felix  Gtith- 
rie's  hand  as  he  held  it  up  and  gazed  at  it  specula- 
tively. 

"  I  wisht  it  war  in  Rhodes's  heart,"  he  observed, 
slowly.  "  That's  whar  I  wisht  'twar." 

The  spinning-wheel  stopped  suddenly  ;  the  blue 
eyes  were  bent  upon  him ;  her  lips  curved  in  laugh 
ter.  "  Thar  ye  go  ter  heaven  !"  she  cried,  waving 
her  hand  as  if  to  point  the  way,  "  repentin'  by  the 
half-hour." 


IV. 

ALL  day  the  slow  process  of  the  restoration  of  the 
household  gods  went  on.  For  many  a  year  thereafter 
all  manner  of  losses  dated  from  this  period.  "  Hain't 
been  seen  «nor  hearn  tell  on  sence  'fore  the  infair," 
was  a  formula  that  sufficiently  accounted  for  any  def 
icit  in  domestic  accoutrement.  There  was  no  one 
in  the  Pettingill  family  so  lost  to  the  appreciation  of 
hospitality  and  the  necessity  of  equalling  the  enter 
tainment  given  by  the  bride's  relatives  as  to  opine 
that  the  game  was  not  worth  the  candle.  But  more 
than  once  Mrs.  Pettingill,  with  a  deep  sigh,  demand 
ed,  "  Who  would  hev  thunk  it  would  hev  been  so 
much  more  trouble  ter  kerry  in  things  agin  'n  ter 
kerry  'em  out !"  She  did  not  accurately  gauge  the 
force  of  enthusiastic  anticipation  as  a  motive  power. 
Nevertheless  she  bore  up  with  wonderful  fortitude, 
considering  that  the  triumph  of  the  supper  had  been 
eclipsed.  The  inanimate  members  of  the  household 
were  exhibiting  a  sort  of  wooden  sulks  as  the.y  were 
conveyed  to  their  respective  places — now  becoming 
stiffly  immovable,  despite  the  straining  muscles  of 
the  "  men  folks  ;"  then  suddenly,  without  the  applica 
tion  of  appreciably  stronger  force,  bouncing  forward 
so  unexpectedly  that  the  danger  of  being  overrun 
was  imminent,  and  cries  of  "  Stiddy,  thar  !  Ketch 
that  eend  !  Holp  up,  thar !"  resounded  even  through 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         77 

Rhodes's  dreams  in  the  roof-room,  as  he  drowsed 
peacefully  under  the  narcotic  influences  of  hop  tea. 
The  loom  might  have  seemed  to  entertain  a  savage 
resentment  for  its  supersedure,  and  was  some  two 
hours  journeying  back  to  its  place  in  the  shed-room, 
the  scene  alike  of  the  blighted  supper  and  its  old  in 
dustrial  pursuits.  After  that  the  "  men  folks  "  took  a 
vacation,  and  applied  themselves  with  some  zest  to 
apparently  incidental  slumber ;  old  Zack  Pettingill 
nodded  in  his  chair  on  the  porch ;  the  others,  chief 
ly  volunteering  neighbors,  fell  asleep  in  the  hay  at 
the  barn  while  ostensibly  feeding  the  cattle,  leaving 
the  great  skeleton  of  the  warping  bars  staring  its  re 
flection  in  the  river  out  of  countenance  as  it  leaned 
against  the  fence,  with  its  skeins  of  carefully  sized 
party-colored  yarn  the  prey  of  two  nimble  kittens, 
who  expressly  climbed  the  gaunt  frame  to  tangle 
them.  Even  Mrs.  Pettingill,  sitting  on  an  inverted 
basket  in  the  yard  amongst  her  gear,  looking  a  trifle 
forlorn,  bareheaded,  with  her  gray  hair  tucked  in  a 
small  knot  at  the  nape  of  her  neck,  her  spectacles 
poised  upon  her  nose,  her  hands  .on  her  knees,  lost 
herself  while  gazing  at  her  possessions  in  the  effort 
to  decide  at  which  end  she  had  best  begin  to  rehabil 
itate  the  confusion  ;  her  eyelids  presently  drooped, 
and  scant  speculation  looked  through  those  spectacles. 
The  great  shady  trees  waved  above  her  head.  Bees 
robbed  the  clover  at  her  feet,  and  flew,  laden  and 
drowsily  droning,  away ;  the  light  shifted  on  the 
river ;  the  sun  grew  hot ;  the  far  blue  mountains 
were  like  some  land  of  dreams,  so  fair,  so  transfig 
ured,  that  they  hardly  seemed  real  and  akin  to  these 
rugged,  craggy,  darksome  heights  which  loomed  be- 


78         IN    THE 

side  the  little  cottage.  Everywhere  were  sleeping 
dogs  ;  now  and  then  one  roused  himself  to  recollec 
tions  of  the  infair  and  the  supper,  and  invaded  the 
shed-room,  standing  in  the  door  and  with  drooping 
tail  gazing  upon  the  simple  domestic  apparition  of 
the  loom  in  its  accustomed  place,  evidently  having 
believed,  in  his  optimistic  simplicity,  that  the  good 
things  and  the  splendor  and  the  delightful  bustle  of 
the  past  evening  were  to  continue  indefinitely,  and 
infinitely  disappointed  to  find  them  already  abolished, 
the  fleeting  show  of  a  single  occasion. 

Shattuck  would  hardly  have  acknowledged  it  to 
himself,  but  he  certainly  felt  relieved  of  an  irksome 
prospect  by  this  succumbing  of  the  Pettingills  to  the 
influence  of  excitement  and  fatigue.  Conversation 
with  his  host  would  necessarily  be  somewhat  ham 
pered  by  the  events  of  the  preceding  evening.  He 
could  not  well  resent  the  old  man's  indignation,  and 
yet  a  hospitable  forbearance  and  courtesy  would-be 
of  even  more  poignant  intimations.  lie  had  winced 
when  the  bridegroom  had  taken  leave  of  him  with  a 
punctilious  show  of  cordiality  and  a  hearty  hand 
shake,  as  assurance  that  he  bore  no  malice  for  those 
insinuations.  For  these  reasons  the  guest  was  not 
sorry  to  note  the  solemn  preoccupation  in  his 
host's  open-mouthed  countenance  as  he  passed  out 
from  the  porch  to  the  shade  of  the  trees,  where  he 
came  presently  upon  Mrs.  Pettingill,  sitting  as  mo 
tionless  as  a  monument  amongst  her  distorted  and  dis 
located  "  truck,"  as  in  her  waking  moments  she 
would  have  phrased  her  belongings.  He  lighted  his 
cigar  as  he  strolled  down  to  the  river,  pausing  to 
strike  the  match  upon  the  white  bark  of  an  aspen- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.  79 

tree.  The  ferns  gave  out  a  sweet  woodland  odor, 
faint  and  delicate,  overpowered  presently  by  the 
pungent  fragrance  of  the  mint  as  his  feet  crushed 
the  thick-growing  herb.  The  crystal  river  murmured 
as  it  went,  and  seemed  to  draw  reflective,  half-breathed 
sighs,  as  in  the  pauses  of  a  story  that  is  told.  Now 
and  again,  when  the  banks  were  high  on  either  side, 
the  rocks  duplicated  the  sound  of  the  lapsing  cur 
rents  with  a  more  sonorous,  cavernous  emphasis,  as 
if  they  sought  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  this  sen 
tient-seeming  life.  The  sky,  looking  down  from  its 
blue  placidities,  only  here  and  there  smote  the  water 
to  azure  emulations  of  its  tint ;  for  the  shadows  pre 
dominated,  and  the  gravel  gave  the  stream  that  fine 
brown,  lucent  tone,  impossible  to  imitate,  broken  oc 
casionally  where  some  high  boulder  incited  the  im 
petuosity  of  the  current  to  bold  leaps.  Then  it  was 
crested  with  snow-white  foam,  and  shoaled  away 
with  glassy  green  waves  to  the  same  restfully  tinted 
brown  and  amber  swirls.  The  overhanging  rocks  were 
gray  and  splintered  and  full  of  crevices,  with  moss 
and  lichen.  Where  they  lay  in  great  fractured 
masses  under  a  giant  oak,  a  spring  gushed  forth.  He 
heard  its  tinkling  tremor,  more  delicately  crystalline 
and  keyed  far  higher  than  the  low  continuous  mono 
tone  of  the  river.  He  mechanically  turned  toward 
the  sound,  and  saw  Letitia  in  her  light-blue  dress  sit 
ting  upon  the  gaunt  gray  rocks  at  the  foot  of  the 
craggy  masses,  a  brown  gourd  in  her  hand  and  an 
empty  cedar  pail  at  her  feet.  Her  eyes  were  fixed 
gravely  upon  him,  her  face  was  fresh  as  the  wild 
roses  amongst  the  crevices  of  the  rocks.  She  looked 
not  more  wilted  by  the  excitements  and  heat  and 


80         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

turmoil  of  the  dancing  at  the  infair  than  the  flower 
blooming  with  the  break  of  day.  He  strolled  toward 
her,  and  spoke  at  the  distance : 

"  You're  the  only  member  of  the  family  awake 
now,  I  believe."  He  smiled,  and  flicked  off  the  ash 
of  his  cigar. 

The  expression  of  her  eyes  changed  as  they  still 
rested  upon  him.  "  Dun'no'  whether  I  be  awake 
or  no,"  she  observed.  "  I  kem  down  hyar  arter  a 
pail  o'  water,  an'  'pears  like  I  can't  git  away  agin. 
Disabled  somehows.  Asleep,  mebbe,  though'  I 
moughtn't  look  like  it." 

Her  uncouth  garb  and  dialect  were  somehow  soft 
ened  by  the  delicacy  of  her  proportions  and  the  per 
fect  profile  and  chiselling  of  her  face.  Her  speech  was 
hardly  more  grating  upon  him,  precisian  though  he 
was,  than  the  careless,  untutored  lapses  of  a  child 
might  have  been ;  all  the  senses  of  comparison  as 
readily  ignored  them.  She  looked  so  sprite-like  as 
she  sat  in  a  drooping,  relaxed  posture  by  the  spring 
in  the  niche  of  the  rocks,  one  hand  behind  her  head, 
the  other  holding  the  gourd  against  her  blue  dress  ; 
and  the  idea  of  an  oread  or  a  naiad  suggested  to  his 
mind  was  suddenly  on  his  lips. 

Her  reply  instantly  reminded  him  of  her  limita 
tions  and  her  ignorance. 

"  Witched  an'  bound  ter  the  spot !"  she  exclaimed, 
with  widening  eyes  and  breathless  tone.  She  lowered 
her  voice  :  "  Did  you-uns  ever  see  one  ?" 

Her  literal  interpretation  embarrassed  and  threw 
him  off  his  guard. 

"  Never  till  now,"  he  said.  He  was  not  intention 
ally  flirting  with  Zack  Pettingill's  daughter  ;  but  else- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       81 

where  and  to  another  of  her  sex  the  speech  would 
have  impressed  him  as  a  pretty  compliment.  In  her 
quality  of  woman,  in  her  possession  of  a  heart,  she  was 
no  more  represented  in  his  mind  than  if  she  had 
been  the  flower  above  her. 

She  either  did  not  comprehend  the  flattery  or  she 
ignored  it.  Her  mind  seemed  fixed  upon  the  water- 
nymph  and  the  oread.  "  Bound  ter  the  spot !"  she 
reiterated,  with  a  sceptical  air.  "  Thar's  a  heap  o' 
ways  o'  bein'  bound  ter  the  spot.  Laziness  kin  hin 
der  ez  totally  ez  a  block  an'  chain.  Mebbe  they  war 
'flicted  that-a-way,  sorter  like  me."  She  stretched 
both  arms  upward  in  an  attitude  that  might  have 
been  grotesque  in  another,  but  with  her  was  a  charm 
ing  and  childish  expression  of  fatigue. 

He  sat  down  on  the  ledge  of  the  rock,  took  out 
his  watch,  and  looked  at  it.  "  I  wish  I  knew  whether 
the  doctor  wouldn't  come  or  would,"  he  said,  the 
harassment  of  the  earlier  hours  recurring  to  his 
mind.  "  I  am  sorry  they  ever  sent  for  him.  Doesn't 
he  seem  a  long  time  coming  ?" 

"  Fee  Guthrie  axed  me  that  question  fourteen  hun 
dred  an'  fifty  times  this  mornin'.  I  don't  set  my 
mind  on  doctor  men  whenst  folks  air  well,  only 
vvhenst  ailin'.  'Pears  ter  me  like  Mr.  Rhodes's  main 
complaint  air  foolishness." 

Shattuck  flushed  with  a  sort  of  loyal  resentment 
for  his  friend's  sake.  "You  think  he  is  foolish  be 
cause  he  wanted  to  dance  with  you  ?"  he  said,  tartly. 

She  cast  a  rallying  side  glance  down  upon  him. 

"  Mr.  Rhodes   warn't   particular  'bout  dancin'   with 

me,"  she  protested.      "  I  ain't  in  no  wise  a  favon'te 

'mongst   the    boys.     That's   what    makes    me    'low 

6 


82         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLED  "    COUNTRY. 

I  be  so  smart !"  She  turned  her  head  with  a  bird- 
like  coquetry,  more  formidable  for  being  so  natural. 

"  Too  smart  for  them  ?"  he  said,  placated  in  spite 
of  himself  by  her  naive  arrogations. 

She  nodded  the  wise  little  head  that  she  so  boldly 
vaunted.  "  They  all  ax  me,  *  Hey  ?  hey  ?'  "  —  she 
raucously  thickened  her  voice  in  drawling  mimicry — 
"  ter  every  word  I  say — every  one  I  ever  see  but 
you-uns." 

If  he  could  compliment,  she  could  return  the  cour 
tesy.  He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  remembering  the 
criticisms  that  he  had  heard  last  night  on  her  unex 
pected  and  contrariwise  conversation.  She  was  doubt 
less  far  too  clever  for  her  compeers  and  her  sphere 
— even  clever  enough  to  know  it. 

"  You  don't  think  it  worth  while  to  be  a  favorite 
amongst  fools.  But  how  is  poor  Mr.  Rhodes  a 
fool  ?" 

"  Foolish,"  she  corrected  him,  as  if  she  made  a  dis 
tinction.  "  'Kase  he  wants  ter  git  'lected  ter  office, 
an'  he  kerns  'round  sa-aft-sawderin'  folks  ez  laffs,  'an 
laffs  at  him,  a-hint  his  back.  An'  he  dassent  say  his 
soul's  his  own !  An'  he  hev  ter  take  sass  off'n  every 
body.  He  talks  'bout  the  Jcentry,  an'  ennybody  kin 
see  he  don't  keer  nuthin'  'bout  the  Jcentry.  I'd  ruther 
be  a  wild  dog  down  thar  by  the  ruver-bank,  an'  feed 
off'n  the  bones  the  wolf  leaves,  an'  be  free  ter  hev  a 
mind  o'  my  own." 

Shattuck  seemed  to  revolve  this  caustic  character 
ization  of  his  friend  the  politician.  He  did  not  care 
to  press  her  further  as  to  her  opinions.  He  only 
said,  presently,  once  more  looking  at  his  watch,  "  I 
think  it  so  strange  that  the  doctor  doesn't  come." 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.    83 

"  Fee  Gutlirie  waited  a  cornsiderable  time  ter 
make  sure  ez  Mr.  Rhodes  wouldn't  die,  an'  'twouldn't 
be  desirable  ter  hang  nobody  ter-day." 

Her  interlocutor  winced  a  trifle,  remembering  his 
threats  last  night.  Her  placid  face,  however,  in 
timated  nothing  of  any  intention  that  might  animate 
her  words ;  it  expressed  only  its  own  unique  beauty. 

He  was  charmed  by  it  in  some  sort.  He  could  see 
by  that  mentor,  his  watch,  how  long  it  had  been  that 
he  had  sat  here  listening  alternately  to  the  river's 
song  and  her  low  vibrant  drawl.  But  he  fancied  that 
reluctance  to  meet  the  mountaineers  at  the  house  had 
detained  him,  or  eagerness  to  descry  the  first  approach 
of  the  superfluous  physician,  rather  than  the  fasci 
nation  of  this  rustic  little  creature,  whose  words  so 
combined  bitterness  and  honey.  He  hastened  to  di 
vert  her  attention  from  the  last  suggestion. 

"  Where  is  Guthrie  now,  anyhow  ?"  he  said,  affect 
ing  to  look  around  as  if  expecting  to  see  him  some 
where  at  hand  amongst  the  black  vertical  shadows 
of  the  noon  and  the  still  golden  sunshine. 

"  Off  in  the  woods  somewhere,  I  reckon,"  she 
said  ;  "  prayin',  mebbe." 

"  Praying  ?"  he  repeated,  in  astonishment. 

"  Law sy -massy,  yes  !  He's  a  mighty  survigrous 
ban'  at  prayin'  an'  repentin'.  He  repents  some  every 
day — whenst  he  don't  furgit  it." 

She  laughed  in  a  languid  way,  once  more  stretch 
ing  up  her  tired  arms,  the  brown  gourd  in  one  of 
her  lifted  hands,  and  then  she  relapsed  into  silence, 
her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  swift  flow  of  the  stream. 
He  too  was  silent,  gazing  upon  the  gliding  waters. 
Naught  so  unobtrusively,  so  sufficiently  fills  an  in- 


84          IN    THE 

terval  of  quiet  as  this  watching  the  continual  move 
ment  of  a  current.  They  neither  knew  nor  cared  how 
the  time  went  by.  Ceaselessly  the  swift  swirling  lines 
made  out  to  the  centre  of  the  stream,  and  further 
down  swept  once  more  close  in  to  the  banks  as  the 
conformation  of  the  unseen  channel  directed  the  vol 
ume  and  the  force.  The  spring  gurgled ;  its  sun-lit 
branch,  wherein  might  be  seen  now  and  again  a  darting 
minnow,  with  its  svelte  shadow  beneath  it,  flowed 
timorously  down  to  join  the  river  till  a  sudden  wi 
dening  and  a  quicker  motion  showed  that  its  pulses 
felt  the  impetus  of  the  stronger  current.  A  kill- 
deer,  flying  so  low  as  to  dip  its  wings,  ever  and  anon 
alighted  on  the  margin,  its  stilt-like  legs  half  sub 
merged  as  it  ran  hither  and  thither,  now  and  then 
bending  to  dig  in  the  sand  with  its  long  slender  bill. 
Suddenly  there  was  a  darker  shadow  in  the  water. 
A  young  woman  had  abruptly  emerged  from  the  un 
dergrowth  on  the  opposite  bank,  and  was  crossing  the 
stream  on  the  rickety  little  foot-bridge,  consisting  of 
but  one  log,  the  upper  side  hewn ;  her  balance  was  a 
trifle  difficult  to  maintain,  as  she  carried  a  child  in 
her  arms.  She  looked  eagerly  toward  the  two  as 
they  sat  by  the  spring,  thus  essentially  differing 
from  "leetle  Mose,"  who,  upon  perceiving  them, 
turned  the  back  of  his  pink  sun-bonnet  upon  them 
with  an  air  of  sullen  rejection,  unaware  how  the  dig 
nity  of  his  demonstration  was  impaired  by  the  di- 
minutiveness  of  his  head-gear,  and,  sooth  to  say,  of 
the  head  within  it.  If  he  had  expected  to  thus  for 
midably  crush  the  two  spectators,  he  was  mistaken  ; 
but  he  could  not  observe  how  it  affected  them,  for 
he  buried  his  face  upon  his  mother's  shoulder.  She 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  0  "    COUNTRY.          85 

seemed  fatigued  and  travel-worn  as  she  came  near, 
and  her  face  bore  traces  of  recent  weeping  in  the 
pathetic  drooping  lips,  the  heavily  lidded  eyes,  and 
her  pallor.  She  strove  gallantly  for  a  smile  and  to 
speak  in  a  casual  tone,  as  she  said,  "  Howdy,  Litt  3" 
Then,  although  nodding  to  Shattuck,  for  introduc 
tions  are  not  in  vogue  in  this  region,  she  went  on, 
eagerly  :  "  Did  Steve  kem  ter  the  infair  ?  He  'lowed 
he  would."  She  paused,  biting  her  lips  hard  to  keep 
back  the  tears.  Letitia  looked  uncertainly  at  Shat 
tuck,  as  if  expecting  him  to  reply.  The  benedict, 
drearily  superfluous  to  the  festivities,  had  hardly 
been  noticed  by  her  as  he  lurked  about  the  walls  and 
sought  what  entertainment  was  possible  to  one  under 
the  social  disabilities  of  matrimony. 

"Who?  Stephen  Yates?  Oh,  yes,"  said  Shat 
tuck.  "  He  talked  to  me  a  long  time.  You  were 
uneasy  because  he  didn't  come  home?"  he  asked, 
with  facile  sympathy.  At  the  kind  tones  her  self- 
control  melted,  and  the  tears  began  to  flow  afresh. 
"  The  infair  broke  up  with  a  row,  and  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  hurt,"  he  explained,  holding  out  his  cigar  with  a 
delicate  gesture,  and  touching  off  the  long  ash 
against  a  verge  of  the  rock.  "  Steve  Yates  went  for 
the  doctor  on  one  of  Mr.  Pettingill's  horses.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  time  for  him  to  be  back,  too," 
he  added,  his  mind  recurring  to  his  own  interest  in 
the  matter,  and  once  more  he  looked  across  the  river 
and  up  the  section  of  the  road  which  became  visible 
for  a  little  way  along  the  side  of  a  corn-field,  expect 
ing  to  see  the  dust  rise  beneath  the  hoof-beats  of 
the  messenger's  horse  or  the  doctor's  buggy  wheels. 
But  all  was  still  and  silent ;  only  the  air  shimmered 


86         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

in  the  heat,  and  from  amidst  the  blue-green  expanse 
of  the  corn  he  saw  a  mocking-bird  rise  in  the  ecstasy 
of  its  redundant  song,  its  wing-feathers  a  dazzling 
white  in  the  sun,  and  drop  back  quivering  and  still 
singing  upon  the  unstable  perch  of  a  waving  tassel. 

Adelaide's  tears  continued  to  flow,  although  she 
sought  to  stanch  them  now  and  again  with  the  cur 
tain  of  her  sun-bonnet,  which  she  pressed  to  her 
eyes.  She  had  seated  herself  upon  one  of  the  rocks 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  spring,  and  the  "  leetle 
Moses,"  whom  she  held  upon  her  knee,  one  arm 
passed  about  his  sufficiently  burly  waist,  seeing  that 
he  was  not  noticed,  indulged  his  own  curiosity,  and 
from  the  interior  of  his  pink  sun-bonnet  bent  a  stare 
of  frowning  severity  first  upon  Letitia,  and  then 
transferred  his  callow  speculation  to  Shattuck.  Per 
haps  it  was  far  less  Adelaide's  natural  embarrass 
ment  at  thus  meeting  in  tears  a  stranger  than  her 
divination  of  the  young  girl's  mental  attitude  tow 
ard  her  that  roused  her  pride  and  the  resources  of 
her  fortitude.  She  sought  to  put  away  the  recollec 
tion,  hardly  less  poignant  than  the  reality,  of  the 
long  sad  hours  of  the  wakeful  night — spent  in  re 
viewing  the  quarrel,  repenting  her  hasty  words  to 
her  husband,  and  anon  inconsistently  angered  anew 
because  of  the  memory  of  his  own  bitter  sayings — 
the  keen  expectancy  of  the  lagging  morning,  and  the 
terrible  morbid  fear  that  had  grown  upon  her  jarred 
and  shaken  nerves  that  he  would  come  back  no  more. 
Far,  far  was  all  her  feeling  from  the  girl's  comprehen 
sion,  and  she  deprecated  that,  with  that  half-scoffing 
face,  Letitia  should  look  in  upon  her  sorrows — dis 
proportionate  and  fantastic  though  they  might  be, 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       87 

but  none  the  less  piercing — and  seek  to  gauge  them 
by  the  narrow  measure  of  her  own  experience  and 
her  own  untried,  undeveloped  gamut  of  emotions. 

"  I  ain't  a-goin'  ter  git  married,"  remarked  the 
fancy-free  scoiier  from  her  perch,  "  till  I  kin  find  a 
man  ez  I  kin  trust  wunst  in  a  while  ter  take  keer  o' 
hisseif,  a-goin'  an'  a-comin'  from  a  neighbor's  house. 
Mus'  be  powerful  sorrowful  ter  set  at  home  an'  shed 
tears  lest  he  mought  hev  stumped  his  toe  on  the 
road.  Mighty  oncommon  kind  o'  man  I  want,  I 
know,  but " — with  resolution — "  I  be  a-goin'  ter 
s'arch  the  mountings,  far  an'  nigh,  till  I  find  him. 
I'd  like  ter  marry  a  man  ez  could  be  trusted  ter  take 
keer  o'  hisseif,  an'  mought  even,  on  a  pinch,  take 
keer  o'  me." 

Shattuck,  with  a  smile,  glanced  across  at  the  weep 
ing  wife,  who  laughed  a  trifle  hysterically  amidst  her 
tears,  and  said : 

"Oh,  don't,  Litt !"  Then,  regaining  her  compo 
sure,  she  once  more  pressed  the  curtain  of  her  cal 
ico  sun-bonnet  to  her  eyes.  It  seemed  that  her  dig 
nity  required  some  explanation.  "  I  wouldn't  hev 
minded  it  so,"  she  said,  "  ef  me  an'  Steve  hedn't 
hcd  words.  He  wanted  me  ter  kem  with  him  ter 
the  infair,  but  I  war  'feared  ter  bring  leetle  Mose, 
fur  he  mought  hev  cotched  the  measles  or  the 
whoopin'-cough." 

"  He's  safe  now,"  remarked  Letitia.  "  I  be  the 
youngest  o'  the  fambly.  I  hed  the  measles  thirteen 
year  ago,  an'  I  never  did  demean  myself  so  fur  ez 
ter  hev  the  whoopin'-cough." 

Somehow  the  tone  of  raillery,  the  sense  of  the 
freedom  and  the  irresponsibility  of  the  young  girl, 


88          IN    THE   "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "   COUNTRY. 

roused  a  vague  sort  of  protest  in  the  other,  only  a 
few  years  older,  but  upon  whose  heart  were  so  many 
clamorous  demands,  all  the  dearer  for  their  exactions. 
She  felt  bound  to  set  herself  right.  Who  had  ever 
a  happier  married  life  than  she  and  Stephen,  a  more 
contented  home  ?  And  then  the  supreme  unanimity 
of  their  worship  of  the  domestic  god  Dagon — the  ex 
traordinary  "  leetle  Mose !" 

"  I  'low  I  wouldn't  hev  been  sech  a  fool  ef  'twarn't 
so  uncommon  fur  me  an'  Steve  ter  fall  out,"  she 
said,  her  face  resuming  its  serene  curves,  her  full, 
luminous  dark  eyes  fixed  with  a  sort  of  recognition 
on  Shattuck,  which  his  quick  senses  apprehended  as 
identification  from  description.  "  I  oughtn't  ter 
hev  set  up  my  'pinion  'gin  his,  I  reckon.  He  war 
mightily  tuk  up  with  a  man — I  reckon  'twar  you-uns 
— ez  hed  been  a-diggin'  in  the  Injun  mounds." 

Shattuck  nodded  in  response  to  this  unique  intro 
duction. 

"An'— an'" — she  faltered  a  trifle — "ez  hed  a 
mind  ter  go  a-diggin'  up  the  bones  o'  them  Leetle 
Stranger  People  o'  ourn,  ter — ter  sati'fy  hisse'f  what 
sort'n  nation  they  used  to  be,  an'  ter  git  thar  pearls 
off'n  thar  necks." 

There  was  a  shocked  gravity  and  surprise  even  on 
Letitia's  face.  Adelaide  had  looked  away  toward 
the  road,  affecting  to  watch  for  an  approach,  in  de 
spair  of  being  able  to  fitly  meet  Shattuck's  gaze  after 
saying  this,  which  seemed  to  affect  other  people  as  a 
commonplace  matter,  but  to  her  was  an  accusation  of 
the  deepest  turpitude.  The  countenance  of  the  in 
fant  Moses,  still  bent  upon  him  with  a  sternly  inves 
tigating  stare,  was  the  only  one  whose  gaze  had  not 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       89 

a  covert  reproach.  He  hardly  cared  to  argue  with 
their  prejudice.  He  sought  to  effect  a  diversion — 
in  questionable  taste  he  might  have  deemed  it  at  an 
other  time,  however  little  taste  might  be  considered 
to  be  concerned  in  his  conversation  with  the  humble 
mountaineers.  He  had  often  heard,  and  had  formal 
ly  accepted  as  worthy  of  credence,  the  popular  ax 
ioms  concerning  the  dangers  of  interference  between 
man  and  wife.  But  he  certainly  did  not  anticipate 
the  effect  of  his  words  when  he  said : 

"  I  shall  have  to  look  out  for  you,  I  hear.  You 
are  such  a  friend  to  the  Little  People  that  you  have 
loaded  a  rifle  for  me.  What  sort  of  a  shot  are  you, 
now ;  and  how  far  will  your  rifle  carry  ?"  He  cocked 
his  cigar  between  his  teeth,  and  looked  at  her  with 
an  air  of  good-natured  raillery. 

Her  face  seemed,  in  the  shadow  of  her  purple  sun- 
bonnet,  to  be  slowly  turning  to  stone,  so  rigid  and 
white  it  was.  She  did  not  reply,  but  as  he  noted 
her  startling  change  of  expression  he  felt  a  sudden 
rush  of  indignation.  The  mountaineers,  with  their 
unconscious  ignorance,  their  intolerance  of  all  stand 
points  save  those  within  their  own  limitations,  their 
arrogations  of  censorship,  their  suspicions  of  occult 
wickedness  in  his  motives  and  intentions,  their  overt 
assumption  of  a  right  to  direct  the  public  conscience, 
had  begun  to  strongly  anger  him.  His  capacity  for 
making  allowances  was  all  at  once  exhausted,  and  he 
found  the  intensity  of  her  look  strangely  irksome. 

"  Well,  what's  the  matter  ?"  he  asked,  a  trifle  more 
roughly  than  he  ever  permitted  himself  to  speak  to 
a  woman ;  for  he  was  a  man  of  consciously  chivalric 
impulses,  which  he  had  willingly  permitted  to  agreea- 


90         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

bly  tinge  his  manners.  He  held  his  cigar  suspended 
between  his  fingers  while  he  waited. 

"Did — did  Steve  tell  you-uns  that  word?"  she 
cried,  in  a  tone  like  despair. 

"  Why,  yes,"  he  returned,  promptly. 

There  was  a  moment  when  the  vivid  sunshine,  the 
cool,  dank  shadows  of  the  foliage  stirring  with  such 
soft  dryadic  murmurs  above  her  head,  the  song  of 
the  bird  from  the  strong,  rich  effulgence  of  the  corn 
field,  the  chant  of  the  river,  even  the  cry  of  her  child, 
were  as  null  to  her  as  if  her  every  faculty  had  been 
numbed  in  the  centuries  of  death  that  crumbled  slow 
ly  the  pygmy  burying-ground. 

"  Did  he  tell  that  word  on  me  ?"  she  cried  at  last, 
her  voice  rising  discordantly.  "  He  hev  gone — he 
hev  gone  fur  good.  He  warned  me  ef  I  teched  that 
rifle  ter  fire  at  them  that  disturbed  the  rest  o'  the 
Leetle  People  whilst  waitin'  fur  jedgment — or  said 
that  word — that  he'd  turn  me  out'n  his  door.  But 
he  'lowed  'twar  the  easiest  way  ter  go  hisself.  An' 
he  hev  gone — gone  fur  good."  And  once  more  she 
lapsed  into  stony  immobility. 

Mr.  Shattuck  turned  his  cigar  and  looked  down  at 
it.  It  was  a  casual  gesture,  but  there  was  a  spark  of 
irritation  in  his  eye.  He  had  lost  all  appreciation  of 
any  element  of  interest  in  her  beauty,  in  the  pictur 
esque  charm  of  the  surroundings.  The  incongruity 
that  he  and  his  semi-scientific  researches  in  his  idle 
summer  loiterings  should  become  involved  in  a  fool 
ish  quarrel  between  a  mountaineer  and  his  wife 
struck  him  as  grotesque,  and  offended  his  every  sense 
of  the  becoming.  He  had  piqued  himself  somewhat 
upon  his  sensibilities,  his  ever-ready  sympathy  with 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.    91 

all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people.  He  had  fine  abil 
ities  in  many  aesthetic  ways ;  he  could  discern  the 
higher  values,  to  seek  to  make  them  his  own  and 
assimilate  them.  He  appreciated  the  correct  stand 
point  ;  he  felt  the  susceptibility  to  the  glow  of  a  no 
ble  emotion,  and  he  appraised  its  possession  exactly 
as  he  did  his  knowledge  of  the  Italian  language — a 
fine  thing  per  se,  and  one  to  grace  a  gentleman.  His 
capacity  to  enter  into  the  feelings  of  the  mountain 
eers,  to  meet  them,  despite  the  heights  of  his  learning 
and  his  social  position,  without  effort  and  without 
affectation,  had  extorted  the  admiration  and  emula 
tion  of  his  friend  the  politician,  versed  in  all  the 
arts  of  currying  favor.  But  he  was  not  equal  to  this 
crisis,  since  it  bore  heavily  upon  the  fund  of  pride 
encompassing  his  own  personality.  His  considera 
tion,  his  kindness,  his  whole  attitude  was  to  them  as 
themselves,  not  in  any  sort  as  one  with  himself.  He 
had  not  a  word  of  pity  for  her ;  he  did  not  see,  with 
that  fine  far  sight  which  he  sometimes  called  insight, 
her  long,  desolate  future  that  challenged  her  eye  and 
turned  her  heart  cold ;  he  had  no  perception  of  those 
farthest  perspectives  of  altruism,  a  share  in  another's 
morbid  terror — he  so  despised  her  folly. 

And  when  once  more  she  broke  silence — "  He  hev 
gone  !" — "  I  reckon  not,"  he  said,  coolly,  still  looking 
with  a  smile  at  the  end  of  his  cigar,  and  presently 
returning  it  to  his  lips. 

The  nervous  strain  of  the  moment  seemed  hardly 
capable  of  extension  till  that  most  wearing  and  jar 
ring  sound,  a  fretful  child's  discordant  wail,  rose 
upon  the  air.  Perhaps  her  rigid  arm  hurt  Moses ; 
perhaps  he  detected  that  something  was  going  awry 


92         IN    THE 

with  her ;  perhaps  he  merely  felt  too  long  overlooked 
and  neglected ;  but  the  great  Dagon  lifted  a  stento 
rian  and  unwelcome  cry,  and  paused  only  with  an  air 
of  vengeance,  as  if  he  expected  all  who  beheld  to  be 
properly  dismayed,  seized  his  pink  sun-bonnet  by  the 
crown,  and  cast  it  from  him  on  the  ground  with  a 
great  sweep  of  his  short  arm.  As  he  gazed  around, 
bald-headed,  to  note  the  effect,  his  sullen  eye  encoun 
tered  Letitia's,  who  was  for  once  in  her  life  silenced 
and  amazed  by  the  turn  affairs  had  taken.  She  made 
an  effort  to  regain  her  balance. 

"  I  ain't  s'prised  none  ef  ye  want  some  water,"  she 
said,  producing  the  great  brown  gourd,  and  bending 
down  to  submerge  it  in  the  depths  of  the  cool,  gur 
gling,  crystal  spring. 

"  Leetle  Mose,"  emitting  a  piercing  shriek  of  anger 
that  she  should  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  him, 
flung  himself  with  averted  face  into  his  mother's 
arms.  The  tone  went  through  Shattuck's  head,  so 
to  speak ;  his  brows  knitted  involuntarily  with  pain  ; 
he  was  about  to  rise  to  go  in-doors,  for  the  possible 
embarrassments  and  discomforts  of  conversation  with 
old  Zack  Pettingill  were  insignificant  indeed  to  the 
hardships  encountered  in  the  society  of  "  leetle 
Mose,"  upon  whom  he  cast  a  look  of  aversion,  for 
getting  that  he  was  a  specific  unit  of  that  genus, 
man,  for  whom  Shattuck  felt  so  largely. 

Feminine  ears  seem  curiously  callous  to  that  fren 
zied  infantile  shrillness.  Letitia,  all  unaffected, 
brought  the  brimming  gourd  close  to  the  shrieking 
Mose,  who  turned  to  find  it  beside  him.  Now  the 
way  had  been  long,  and  the  sun  was  hot,  and  had 
burnt  the  great  Dagon  as  if  he  had  been  any  com- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY.         93 

mon  person.  The  deep  coolness  of  the  gourd — it 
must  have  been  very  large  to  his  eye — allured  him. 
He  involuntarily  gave  a  bounce  and  a  gurgle  of  de 
light.  Few  people  ever  saw  "  lectle  Mose "  smile, 
and  a  most  beguiling  demonstration  it  was.  His 
elastic  pink  lips  parted  wide ;  his  few  teeth,  so  hard 
ly  come  by,  glittered ;  his  very  tongue,  coyly  dumb 
— though  it  was  better  tutored  than  it  would  admit 
— might  be  seen  frisking  between  his  gums.  lie 
waited  expectantly  for  his  mother  for  a  moment,  and 
as  she  did  not  move  he  permitted  Letitia  to  serve 
him  ;  he  reached  out  eagerly,  holding  the  gourd  with 
both  hands,  lifting  his  pink  feet  as  if  he  intended  to 
stay  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  by  those  members,  and 
after  several  futile,  ill-directed  bounces  he  succeeded 
in  applying  his  soft  lips  to  the  verge.  He  stopped, 
sputtering,  once  to  look  up,  with  laughing  eyes  full 
of  gladness  and  with  a  dripping  chin,  at  Letitia,  and 
then,  as  he  plunged  his  head  again  to  the  water,  they 
could  hear  him  laughing  and  gurgling  in  the  gourd 
that  echoed  cavernously.  The  specific  unit  became 
all  at  once  more  tolerable  to  contemplate.  Shattuck, 
in  laughing  ridicule  of  him,  glanced  at  Letitia.  Her 
eyes  did  not  meet  his.  She  was  staring  intently  at 
the  section  of  the  road  visible  at  some  little  distance 
by  the  side  of  the  corn-field.  He  turned  to  follow 
her  gaze.  He  had  not  before  noticed  the  thud  of 
hoofs ;  the  sound  was  upon  the  air  now.  From  out 
the  deep  shadow  about  the  spring  naught  was  visible 
in  the  sun-flooded  highway  but  a  cloud  of  dust,  every 
mote  red  in  the  dazzling  radiance.  The  approach 
had  been  obscured  by  the  intervening  undergrowth 
that  grew  close  about  the  river  where  the  road  came 


94         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

down  to  the  bank.  He  could  still  hear  the  thud  of 
hoofs.  Did  he  fancy  it,  he  asked  himself  suddenly,  or 
was  there  something  erratic  suggested  in  the  sound  ? 
Certainly  the  interval  was  strangely  long,  reckoning 
by  the  distance,  while  they  stood  and  watched  the 
close  undergrowth  on  the  opposite  bank,  and  waited 
for  the  rider  to  emerge  from  the  covert.  At  last,  as 
the  horse  appeared,  the  mystery  was  solved.  He 
was  a  bay  horse,  in  good  condition,  with  a  long 
stride,  and  an  old-fashioned  Mexican  saddle  with  a 
high-peaked  pommel.  He  came  down  the  slope  and 
waded  into  the  water  in  a  slouching,  undetermined 
way,  now  and  then  turning  his  head  to  look  with  won 
dering  dissatisfaction  at  the  heavy,  swaying  stirrups 
as  his  movements  caused  them  to  lunge  heavily  back 
and  forth — for  they  were  empty,  and  the  saddle 
bore  no  rider.  He  paused  to  drink  in  the  middle  of 
the  stream,  but  as  Letitia  ran  toward  him,  calling 
"  Cobe !  Cobe !"  he  desisted,  looked  intelligently  at 
her,  and  again  at  his  swaying  empty  stirrups.  lie 
could  have  told  much,  evidently,  if  he  had  not  been 
dumb.  Then  he  came  readily  trotting  through  the  wa 
ter,  which  swept  away  from  his  swift  strides  in  foamy 
circles,  and,  struggling  up  the  bank,  let  her  catch  his 
bridle  and  stroke  his  head.  He  shook  his  mane  and 
neighed  with  pleasure  to  be  at' home  again. 

Adelaide  was  standing,  her  child  in  her  arms,  gaz 
ing  breathlessly  at  him.  Letitia,  still  stroking  the 
animal's  head,  had  turned  a  pale  face  and  eyes  full 
of  vague  appeal  upon  Shattuck. 

"  I  don't  understand,"  he  exclaimed. 

"  This  is  the  horse  he  rode,"  she  said. 


V. 

THE  news  of  the  horse's  return  with  an  empty  sad 
dle  was  received  at  first  lightly  enough  by  others. 
The  treasures  of  old  Zack  Pettingill's  whiskey  keg 
and  his  wife's  cherry-bounce,  lavished  forth  on  the 
preceding  evening,  were  deemed  amply  sufficient  to 
account  for  any  eccentricities  of  equestrianism.  But 
when  several  days  had  passed  without  the  reappear 
ance  of  the  dismounted  horseman,  the  slowly  perco 
lating  gossip  touching  a  conjugal  quarrel  began  to 
offer  another  and  a  more  exciting  interpretation  of 
the  mystery.  So  general  was  its  acceptance  that  al 
though  a  company  of  men  organized  a  search  and 
patrolled  the  roads  and  the  by-paths  and  the  moun 
tain-sides,  it  was  with  scant  hope  or  expectation  of 
any  definite  discovery,  and  inquiry  of  the  physician 
whom  Yates  had  been  despatched  to  summon  result 
ed  only  in  a  verification  of  the  popular  conviction 
that  he  had  never  delivered  the  message.  Thus  the 
fears  evoked  for  his  safety  were  very  promptly 
merged  in  reprehension,  and  speculative  gossip  was 
mingled  in  equal  parts  with  pity  for  his  wife. 

"  Who'd  ever  hev  thunk  ez  Adelaide  Sims,  count 
ed  the  prettiest  gal  this  side  o'  nowliar,  would  hev 
been  deserted  by  her  husband  'fore  three  years  war 
out  ?"  Mrs.  Pettingill  said,  meditatively,  her  pipe  be 
tween  her  lips,  as  she  "walked"  a  spinning-wheel 


96         IN    THE 

into  the  house,  making  it  use  first  one  and  then  the 
other  of  its  own  spindling  legs  to  achieve  progression 
rather  than  lifting  it  by  main  force.  She  half  solilo 
quized  and  half  addressed  a  tall,  lank  mountaineer 
who  sat  upon  the  edge  of  the  porch,  his  horse  graz 
ing  hard  by.  He  had  stopped  on  the  pretext  of  ask 
ing  for  a  "  bite,"  saying  that  he  had  travelled  far 
over  the  mountain,  looking  up  some  stray  cattle  of 
his,  and  albeit  Mrs.  Pettingill  disapproved  of  his 
reputation,  the  "  snack  "  that  she  could  give  him  was 
one  of  those  admirable  things  in  itself  that  could  not 
go  amiss  even  with  a  sinner.  He  had  a  big-boned, 
powerful  frame  and  was  middle-aged ;  but  despite 
that  his  hair  was  streaked  with  gray,  and  the  crow's- 
feet  about  his  eyes  gave  evidences  of  the  lapse  of 
time,  he  was  the  very  impersonation  of  the  spirit  of 
"  devil  may  care."  He  had  a  keen,  hooked  nose,  an 
eye  far-seeing,  gray,  and  of  a  steely  brilliancy,  and 
the  thin  lips  of  his  large  mouth,  mobility  itself, 
curved  to  a  vast  range  of  expression.  His  manner 
implied  an  elated,  ever-ready,  breezy  confidence  ;  his 
eye  now  covertly  measured  you,  then  gayly  over 
looked  you  as  of  no  manner  of  consequence.  His 
reputation  might,  indeed,  be  accounted  a  doubtful 
one.  He  had  come  before  the  bar  of  justice  several 
times :  the  altering  of  the  brand  on  certain  cattle 
herded  upon  the  "  Bald  "  had  been  laid  at  his  door ; 
the  manner  in  which  a  horse  had  been  lost,  by  a 
drover  passing  through  the  country,  and  found  in  his 
possession,  had  been  called  into  question.  On  each 
occasion  his  escape  had  been  made  good  by  the  lack 
of  adequate  evidence  to  convict,  although  little  doubt 
existed  as  to  his  guilt.  He  was  one  of  those  singu- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       97 

lar  instances  of  an  undeserved  popularity.  Better 
men,  amply  able  to  discern  right  from  wrong,  often 
opined  that  there  was  no  great  harm  in  him,  that  in 
justice  had  been  done  him,  and  that  much  meaner 
men  abounded  in  the  cove  who  had  never  been 
"  hauled  over  the  coals."  He  had  been  a  brave  sol 
dier,  although  the  flavor  of  bushwhacking  clung  to 
his  war  record.  He  had  certain  magnetic  qualities, 
and  there  were  always  half  a  dozen  stout  fellows  at 
his  back — ne'er-do-weels  like  himself.  He  had  been 
suspected  of  moonshining,  but  this  was  not  consid 
ered  a  natural  sequence  of  his  lawless  habits,  for 
many  otherwise  law-abiding  citizens  followed  this 
pursuit;  in  defence,  they  would  have  urged,  of  their 
natural  right  of  possession — to  make  what  use  they 
chose  of  their  own  corn  and  apples,  as  their  fore 
fathers  had  done  in  the  days  before  the  whiskey  tax. 
Buck  Cheever's  suspected  adherence  to  the  popular 
standpoint  on  this  burning  question  might  have 
been  considered  to  only  lower  the  tone  of  the  pro 
fession. 

Mrs.  Pettingill  regarded  him  with  contradictory 
emotions.  As  a  religionist,  she  felt  that  she  would 
prefer  his  room  to  his  company  ;  but  his  room  was 
but  scant  encroachment,  for  he  only  sat  upon  the 
edge  of  the  porch,  and  he  by  no  means  asserted  any 
equality  of  piety  or  moral  standpoint ;  on  the  con 
trary,  he  seemed  to  esteem  her,  and,  by  her  reflected 
lustre,  Mr.  Pettingill,  as  shining  lights,  and  vastly  dif 
ferent  from  the  general  run  of  the  cove.  His  breezy 
talk  was  peculiarly  refreshing  to  her  in  the  midst  of 
the  ordeal,  still  in  process,  of  restoring  the  routine 
of  twenty  years,  shattered  by  the  havoc  of  the  infair. 


98       IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

He  had  a  discerning  palate  and  a  crisp  and  flexible 
tongue,  and  she  felt,  with  a  glow  of  kindness,  that 
he  said  as  much  in  praise  of  her  corn-dodgers,  which 
formed  a  part  of  his 'lunch,  as  any  one  else  would 
have  said  for  her  pound-cake. 

"  Mos'  folks  don't  sense  the  differ  in  corn-meal 
cookin'.  It  takes  a  better  cook  ter  make  a  plain, 
tasty  corn-dodger,  ez  eats  short  with  fried  chicken, 
'n  a  cake." 

"  It  takes  Mis1  Pettingill  ter  make  this  kind  o' 
one,"  he  protested,  with  his  mouth  full.  "  No  sech 
air  ever  cooked  ennywhar  else  I  ever  see." 

"  I  hev  got  some  mighty  nice  fraish  buttermilk, 
Buck,  jes'  churned,"  she  remarked,  precipitately. 
"  I  be  goin'  ter  fetch  ye  a  glass  right  off." 

Old  Zack  Pettingill,  with  his  shock  head  of  thick 
gray  hair,  and  his  deeply  grooved  face,  sat  in  his 
shirt  sleeves  in  his  accustomed  chair  on  the  porch, 
and  his  expression  betokened  a  scorn  of  his  help 
meet's  susceptibility  to  the  praises  of  her  culinary 
accomplishments,  and  held  a  distinct  intimation,  by 
which  Buck  Cheever  might  have  profited  had  he  been 
so  disposed,  that  he  was  not  to  be  propitiated  in  any 
such  wise.  Little,  however,  Buck  Cheever  cared. 
The  lady  in  command  of  the  larder  dwarfed  her  hus 
band's  importance. 

"Yes,  'm,"  he  drawled,  taking  up  the  thread  of 
the  gossip  where  the  victualling  interlude  had  left  it; 
"  Adelaide's  been  left.  That's  mighty  bad.  An'  I 
reckon  it  hurts  her  pride  too."  He  showed  himself 
thus  not  insensible  to  aesthetic  considerations. 

"I'll  be  bound  it  do,"  Mrs.  Pettingill  agreed,  as 
she  seated  herself.  She  cast  a  speculative  look  upon 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         99 

her  husband,  silent  and  grum  as  if  he  had  been  thus 
gruffly  carved  out  of  wood.  He  had  been  a  stum 
bling-block  in  many  respects  in  his  conjugal  career. 
He  was  "set"  in  his  ways,  and  some  of  them  she 
felt  were  ways  of  pure  spite.  She  had  never  before 
realized,  however,  that  his  continued  presence  was  a 
thing  to  be  thankful  for.  Such  as  he  was,  she  had 
him  at  hand.  Public  pity,  which  the  sensitive  feel 
as  public  contempt,  had  never  been  meted  out  to  her 
because  of  his  desertion.  Thus,  although  she  could 
with  convenience  have  dispensed  with  him,  and  his 
loud  harangues,  and  his  overbearing  ways,  and  his 
dyspepsia — the  cove  said  he  had  been  fed  till  he 
foundered  —  which  placed  an  embargo  on  three 
fourths  of  the  dishes  on  which  she  loved  to  show 
her  skill,  he  was  revealed  to  her  suddenly  as  a  boon 
in  that  he  would  yet  stay  by  her,  and  the  phrase  "  a 
deserted  wife "  had  no  affinity  with  her  fully  fur 
nished  estate. 

"  Waal,  Steve  always  'peared  ter  me  a  good  match 
whenst  he  war  young" — she  meant  unmarried — 
"  though  riprarious  he  war,  an'  sorter  onstiddy  an' 
dancified,  but  I  never  'lowed  he'd  hev  done  sech  a 
mean  thing.  An'  that  thar  baby  o'  theirn !  well 
growed,  an'  fat,  an'  white,  an'  strong,  but,  I  will  say, 
bad  ez  the  Lord  ever  makes  'em.  Waal,  waal,  a  body 
dun'no'  how  thar  chil'n  will  turn  out;  them  with 
small  famblies,  or  none,  oughter  thank  the  Lord — 
though  that  ain't  in  the  Bible.  *  Blessed  be  the  man 
with  a  quibble  on  'em.'  That's  what  the  Good  Book 
say." 

This  was  a  new  view  with  Mrs.  Pettingill.  She 
had  often  floutingly  wished  she  had  a  "  sure  enough 


100          IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

fambly,"  as  if  her  own  were  so  many  rag  dolls.  "  Jes' 
one  son,"  she  would  say  ;  "  an1  him,  through  being 
in  love,  hed  ruther  eat  his  meals  at  the  Gossams' — 
'long  o'  Malviny  Grossam — whar  they  don't  know  no 
mo'  how  ter  cook  a  corn  puddin'  or  a  peach  cobbler  'n 
ef  they  war  thousand-legs ;  an'  jes  one  darter,  ez  will 
pick  a  chicken  bone  an'  call  it  dinner  !  an'  a  'speptic 
husband  ez  hev  sech  a  crazy  stommick  that  jes' 
'  Welsh  rabbit '  will  disagree  with  him  !" 

What  sort  of  chance  was  there  here  for  a  woman 
who  knew  what  good  cooking  was  ?  "  Ef  'twarn't 
fur  the  visitors  ez  kem  ter  the  house,"  she  often  de 
clared,  "  I'd  git  my  hand  out." 

"  Folks  raise  thar  chil'n  wrong,"  said  old  man  Pet- 
tingill  in  a  dirge-like  tone — "  raise  'em  for  the  devil's 
work  like  I  raise  my  cattle  fur  the  plough.  Marryin' 
'  is  a  mighty  serious  business.  Yes,  sir !" 

"  A  true  word !"  interpolated  his  wife,  desirous  of 
not  seeming  behindhand  in  this  view  of  the  serious 
ness  of  matrimony,  in  order  to  intimate  that  whatever 
reason  he  had  to  be  solemn  upon  the  subject,  she  too 
had  cause  to  be  sobered  by  it.  She  knitted  a  trifle 
faster,  and  her  needles  clicked  resentfully. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  he  reiterated.  "  An'  steddier  singin' 
o'  psalm  tunes  over  the  bride  an'  groom,  an'  a- 
prayin'  over  'em,  an'  hevin'  a  reg'lar  pray'r-meetin', 
repentin'  o'  sins  an'  castin'  o'  ashes  on  thar  heads, 
we  hev  dances,  an'  dancin'  Tucker,  an'  all  manner  o' 
eatables,  an'  infairs,  ez  ef  they  war  a-goin'  ter  dance 
through  life,  when  married  life  is  mos'ly  repent 
ance." 

"  That  it  is  !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Pettingill,  forgetting 
her  gratitude  that  she  too  had  not  been  "  left."  "  Re- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  OOILTNTRY.  .      101 


pentance  o'  ever  bein'  married.     •Sackcloth  an? 
is  the  word  !" 

Old  Pettingill  took  no  notice  of  this  confirmation 
of  the  letter  if  not  the  spirit  of  his  dogma,  save  by  a 
surly  baited  glance,  and  went  on  :  "  Church  mem 
bers  though  we  all  war,  we  stood  round  an'  watched 
them  young  folks  dance  ter  the  devil  till  he  fairly  riz 
up  through  the  floor  an'  smit  one  of  'em  down." 

"  By  gosh  !"  exclaimed  Cheever,  a  sudden  fear  and 
wonder  upon  his  face  ;  "  which  one  war  smit?" 

"'Twar  Len  Rhodes,"  his  host  began,  but  Mrs. 
Pettingill's  wheeze,  persistently  sibilant,  dominated 
even  his  louder  tone. 

"Don't  you-uns  be  'feared,  Buck.  Satan  hisself 
didn't  show  up.  He  struck  through  Fee  Guthrie's 
arm  —  a  mighty  survigrous  one.  Ye  know  the  En'my 
hev  got  the  name  o'  bein'  toler'ble  smart,  an'  he 
never  made  ch'ice  o'  a  spindlin'  arm." 

Once  more  Mr.  Pettingill  resumed,  overlooking 
what  she  had  said  :  "An'  so  Mr.  Shattuck  hyar  'lowed 
the  law  would  be  down  on  us  ef  Mr.  Rhodes  didn't 
hev  his  own  doctor-man  —  ez  'peared  ter  be  the  apple 
o'  his  eye  !  An'  bein'  ez  my  son  war  the  groom,  an' 
the  'casion  war  the  infair,  I  couldn't  send  him  off,  an' 
I  jes'  axed  Steve  Yates  ter  go  fur  the  doctor,  an'  go 
he  did." 

"  An'  go  war  all  he  did,"  interpolated  Mrs.  Pettin 
gill  ;  "  he  never  kem  back  no  mo'." 

"  I  be  powerful  obligated  ter  him  ez  he  never  tuk 
my  bay  horse-critter  along  ;  sent  him  home  with  the 
saddle  outer  him  an'  all.  I  dun'no'  but  what  I  be 
s'prised.  Ef  he  war  mean  enough  ter  desert  his 
wife,  he  air  plenty  mean  enough  ter  steal  a  horse." 


i'jk,  .who  was  lounging  with  a  cigar  in  a  big 
arm-chair,  looked  frowningly  at  the  speaker.  He  had 
felt  much  distress  that  it  should  have  been  upon  his 
insistence  that  the  young  man  was  despatched  upon 
that  errand  whence  he  had  never  returned.  He  could 
hardly  control  his  anxiety  and  forebodings  while 
searching  parties  went  forth ;  and  so  earnestly  he 
hoped  that  no  broken  and  bruised  body  would  be 
found  along  the  roadside,  betokening  a  fatal  fall 
from  the  saddle,  no  trace  of  robbery  or  foul  deed  re 
sulting  in  death,  that  when  public  opinion  settled 
upon  the  theory  of  Yates's  desertion  of  his  wife  he 
experienced  a  great  relief,  a  welcome  sense  of  irre 
sponsibility.  And  yet  this  was  so  keen  and  vivid 
that  he  could  but  reproach  himself  anew,  since  he  so 
rejoiced  because  of  the  disaster  that  sealed  her  un- 
happiness.  His  spirits  had  recovered  somewhat  their 
normal  tone,  but  nevertheless  he  could  ill  endure  an 
allusion  to  his  share  in  the  circumstances  that  precip 
itated  the  event. 

"  How  air  she  a-goin'  ter  git  along  ?"  demanded 
Cheever ;  a  sufficiently  uncharacteristic  question,  since 
his  was  not  the  type  of  practical  mind  that  is  wont  to 
occupy  itself  with  domestic  ways  and  means.  "  Goin' 
back  ter  her  own  folks  ?" 

"  She  'lows  she'd  ruther  die.  She's  goin'  ter  stay 
thar  in  her  cabin  an'  wait  fur  him,"  said  Mrs.  Pet- 
tingill.  "  Sorter  seems  afe-stressin',  I  do  declar' ! 
A  purty,  young,  good,  r'ligious  'oman  a-settin'  her 
self  ter  spen'  a  empty  life  a-waitin'  fur  Steve  Yates 
ter  kern  back.  He'll  never  kcm.  lie's  in  Texas 
by  now,"  she  declared,  hyperbolically ;  for  Texas 
is  the  mountaineer's  outremer.  "  Litt  say  she  ain't 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.        103    - 

never  goin'  ter  git  married,"  she  continued,  irrele 
vantly. 

"  How  long  d'ye  reckon  she'll  stick  ter  that  ?"  de 
manded  old  Pettingill,  sourly,  glancing  up  from  under 
his  grizzled  eyebrows. 

"  Waal,"  his  wife  defended  her,  "  she  hain't  never 
got  married  yit,  and  that's  more'n  ye  kin  say.'' 

And  to  this  taunt  the  unhappy  Mr.  Pettingill  could 
offer  no  response,  save  an  inarticulate  gruffness  that 
only  betokened  his  ill-will  and  the  ill  grace  with 
which  he  accepted  defeat.  The  dirge-like  monody 
to  which  he  seemed  to  have  attuned  his  spirit  was 
but  the  retroactive  effect  of  the  gayety  of  the  infair, 
the  swinging  back  of  the  pendulum,  as  far  as  it  was 
flung  forth.  More  sophisticated  people  have  encoun 
tered  that  melancholy  reflux  of  pleasure,  and,  with  the 
knowledge  that  the  cure  lies  in  "a  hair  of  the  dog 
that  bit  you,"  find  a  revival  of  their  capacities  for 
gayety  in  new  scenes  of  mirth.  But  the  society  of 
the  cove  had  not  these  opportunities  for  extension  and 
reduplication.  There  were  no  more  infairs  nor  dances 
nor  weddings.  Mr.  Pettingill  was  constrained  to  re 
cover  the  tone  of  his  spirits  as  best  he  might,  despite 
the  sheer  descent  from  the  heights  of  the  gayeties  of 
the  feast  he  had  made  to  the  humdrum  level  of  his 
daily  life,  with  all  the  zest  taken  out  by  contrast. 
Few  people  over  eighteen  have  this  experience  with 
out  acquiring  with  it  such  philosophy  as  serves  to  nul 
lify  it,  but  it  made  Mr.  Pettingill  very  sour  at  sixty. 

"  Where  is  Letitia  ?"  queried  Shattuck,  who  had 
missed  that  element  which  gave  a  different  interpre 
tation  to  the  whole  life  of  the  house,  which  lent  most 
blithesome  wings  to  the  heavy-footed  hours.  He  had 


104          IN    THE 

wondered  all  the  previous  day,  but  until  her  name 
was  mentioned  he  would  not  ask. 

"  Litt  ?  She  went  ter  stay  with  Adelaide,"  said 
Mrs.  Pettingill,  complacently  knitting.  "  Litt  air 
more  comp'ny  'n  help.  I  miss  her  powerful." 

"  I  kin  spare  her  easier  'n  ennything  round  the 
house,"  observed  her  father,  acridly. 

Mrs.  Pettingill  burst  into  an  unexpected  laugh. 
Her  eyes  twinkled  with  reminiscent  raillery  as  they 
were  fixed  upon  her  husband,  who  seemed  a  trifle  out 
of  countenance. 

"  Waal,  Litt  do  make  remarks,"  she  offered  in  ex 
planation. 

"  I  have  observed  that,"  said  Shattuck. 

Mrs.  Pettingill  became  all  at  once  grave  and  con 
cerned.  The  quality  of  Litt's  remarks  was  discon 
certingly  satiric,  and  she  deprecated  the  fact  that  the 
stranger  should  have  acquaintance  with  them.  Shat 
tuck  reflected  her  embarrassment  in  some  sort ;  it 
suggested  "  remarks  "  upon  him  which  he  had  not 
had  the  opportunity  of  hearing,  the  very  recollection 
of  which  in  his  presence  evidently  confused  their 
amiable  auditor,  as  if  the  mere  consciousness  of  them 
implied  discourtesy. 

"  Naw,"  she  went  on,  somewhat  precipitately,  ad 
dressing  herself  rather  more  directly  to  Cheever, 
"  Adelaide  ain't  goin'  home  ter  her  folks.  Steve  lef 
his  craps  all  laid  by,  an'  'ceptin'  fur  cuttin'  wood  an' 
fetchin'  water  thar  warn't  much  use  fur  him  thar.  I 
dun'no'  what  Adelaide  wanted  with  Letishy  ;  she  jes' 
seemed  ter  cling  ter  her.  I  'lowed  ter  Litt  ez  she 
warn't  no  comp'ny  fur  grief.  But  Litt,  she  'lowed  ez 
leetle  Moses  war  apt  ter  make  her  sorrowful  enough 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  8  "    COUNTRY.         105 

fur  chief  mourner  at  a  fun'al  'fore  he  got  done  with 
her.  His  temper  fairly  tarrified  her." 

Cheever  suddenly  seemed  disposed  to  bring  his 
visit  to  an  end.  He  had  an  inattentive  look  during 
Mrs.  Pettingill's  last  words,  an  introspective  ponder 
ing  thoughtfulness,  inconsistent  with  his  almost  sus 
picious  and  vigilant  habit  of  countenance.  He  started 
as  if  with  an  effort  to  recapture  his  vagrant  wits,  and 
it  was  a  long  moment  of  review  before  he  understood 
Mrs.  Pettingill's  commonplace  remonstrance,  "  What's 
yer  hurry,  Buck  ?" 

Mr.  Pettingill,  sufficiently  averse,  for  not  unnatural 
reasons  of  his  own,  to  conversation  with  Shattuck 
alone,  made  haste  to  second  her.  "  Ye  'pear  ter  be 
scorchin'  ter  git  away,"  he  said,  although  under  nor 
mal  circumstances  both  would  have  considered  Buck 
Cheever's  society  no  boon.  They  were  aware  that 
ordinarily  he,  with  his  ne'er-do-wecl  record,  would 
have  been  flattered  by  their  courtesy.  They  noted, 
with  a  sort  of  unformulated  speculation  and  curios 
ity,  his  indifference  to  it,  the  definite  intention  ex 
pressed  in  his  face,  the  preoccupation  with  which  he 
looked  to  his  saddle-girth  and  his  stirrup-irons  before 
he  mounted.  Even  to  their  languid  and  half-dormant 
perceptions  the  fact  was  patent  that  he  was  going  be 
cause  he  had  got  what  he  had  come  for.  In  their 
simplicity  they  thought  it  was  his  luncheon  ! 

Despite  his  lank  length  and  slouching  awkward 
ness  afoot,  he  was  a  sufficiently  imposing  horseman 
when  he  swung  himself  into  his  saddle  and  speed 
ily  went  down  the  winding  way.  He  rode  with  his 
chin  high  in  the  air,  his  legs  stretched  straight  to  the 
extreme  length  of  the  stirrup-leathers,  not  rising  to 


106         IN    THE 

the  motion  of  the  horse,  but  sitting  solidly  in  the 
saddle  as  if  he  were  a  part  of  the  animal,  like  an 
equestrian  statue  endowed  with  motion.  A  gallant 
horse  it  was,  unlike  the  humble  brutes  of  the  moun 
taineers,  with  good  blood  in  his  throbbing  veins  and 
fire  in  his  full  eye,  and  a  high-couraged  spirit  breath 
ing  in  the  dilatations  of  his  thin  red  nostrils  ;  he  was 
singularly  clean-limbed  ;  his  red  roan  coat  shone  like 
satin ;  he  had  a  compact  hoof,  a  delicate,  ever-alert 
ear,  a  small  bony  head,  and  a  long  swinging  stride  as 
regular  as  machinery.  If  it  were  possible  to  discon 
cert  Buck  Cheever,  it  might  be  accomplished  by  the 
question  how  he  became  possessed  of  this  fine  animal 
— finer  even  than  the  mountain  men  in  their  limited 
experience  were  able  to  appreciate.  He  had  been 
known  to  account  for  him  as  being  identical  with  a 
certain  lame  colt,  which  he  had  bought  a  few  years 
before  from  Squire  Beamen  in  the  valley.  "  I  didn't 
gin  much  fur  him,  bein'  his  laig  war  crippled,  but  he 
cured  up  wonderful.  An'  I  wouldn't  sell  him  now. 
He's  some  lighter-complected  'n  he  war  then,  through 
bein'  sun-burnt.  That's  how  kern  ye  didn't  know 
him  fur  the  same.  lie's  better-lookin'  now,  though 
I  hev  ter  handle  his  nigh  fore-laig  keerful." 

This  "  nigh  fore-laig  "  was  lifted  and  thrust  forth 
with  a  vigorous,  high-stepping  action  that  would 
have  attested  much  for  veterinary  surgery  had  it  been 
a  restored  instead  of  a  pristine  power.  Beneath  it 
the  miles  of  sandy  road,  now  sunshiny,  now  flecked 
with  the  shadows  of  the  wayside  trees,  reeled  out 
swiftly ;  the  landscape  seemed  speeding  too,  describ 
ing  some  large  ellipse. 

Cheever's  far-seeing  gray  eyes  rested  absently  on 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      107 

the  shifting  scene  as  on  and  on  he  went — a  certain 
supercilious  observation  it  would  seem,  since  from 
the  backward  pose  of  his  head  he  looked  out  from 
half-lowered  eyelids.  It  was  too  familiar  to  him,  too 
stereotyped  upon  his  senses,  to  produce  responsive 
impressions,  and  he  was  familiar  with  few  others, 
and  knew  no  contrasts.  Thus  the  farthest  moun 
tain's  azure  glowed  for  him  in  vain.  The  multitudi 
nous  shades  of  green  in  the  rich  drapings  that  hid  the 
gaunt  old  slope  near  at  hand  with  masses  and  masses 
of  foliage — from  the  sombre  hue  of  the  pine  and  fir, 
through  the  lightening  tones  of  the  sycamore  and 
sweet-gum,  to  the  silvered  verdure  of  the  aspen-tree 
swinging  in  the  wind — might  be  a  revelation  to  other 
eyes  of  the  infinite  gradations,  the  manifold  capaci 
ties,  of  the  color.  Not  to  his.  And  he  was  as  un 
mindful  of  the  purple  bloom  that  rested  upon  other 
ranges  as  they  drew  afar  off,  of  the  swift  clear  water 
of  the  river  crossing  his  path  again  and  again,  of  the 
cardinal-flower  on  the  bank,  so  stately  and  slender, 
with  the  broken  reflection  of  its  crimson  petal  glow 
ing  in  a  dark  swift  swirl  below — as  oblivious  as  they 
were  of  him.  Only  he  noticed  the  sky,  the  clouds, 
harbingers  of  change,  despite  the  azure  above  and 
the  golden  illusions  of  sunshine  in  which  all  the  world 
was  idealized — change,  although  the  long,  feathery, 
fleecy  sweeps  of  vapor,  like  the  faint  sketchings  of 
snowy  wings  upon  the  opaque  blue,  otherwise  void, 
might  seem  only  lightest  augury. 

"  Mares'  tails,"  he  soliloquized  as  he  went.  "  Fallin' 
weather." 

The  voice  of  the  cataract  had  long  been  on  the  air, 
growing  louder  and  louder  every  moment — only  its 


108      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

summertidc  song,  when  languors  bated  its  pulses, 
and  daily  its  volume  dwindled.  He  had  heard  it  call 
aloud  in  the  savage  ecstasy  of  the  autumn  storms, 
when  reinforced  by  a  hundred  tributaries,  and  bold 
and  leaping  in  triumph.  And  he  knew  it,  too,  in 
winter — a  solemn  hush  upon  it,  a  torpor  like  the 
numb  chill  of  death,  its  currents  a  dull,  noiseless, 
trickling  flow  through  a  thousand  glittering  icy  sta 
lactites.  So  well  he  knew  it  that  for  its  sake  he 
would  not  have  glanced  toward  it. 

Nevertheless,  he  drew  his  horse  into  a  walk,  and 
gazed  fixedly  out  of  his  half-closed  eyes  up  the  long 
gorge  between  the  ranges,  at  the  river,  at  the  glassy 
emerald  sheet  of  the  water-fall,  and  at  the  little  house 
hard  by.  Its  door  was  closed,  as  if  it  too  had  been 
deserted  ;  and  it  seemed  very  small  in  the  shadow  of 
the  great  mountains,  against  whose  darkling  forests 
its  little  gray  roof  and  its  tendril  of  smoke  were  out 
lined  ;  but  it  was  only  a  moment  before  his  quick 
eye  detected  the  presence  of  the  household.  Down 
by  the  water-side  the  three  were.  The  great  cal 
dron  betokened  a  wash-day  ;  the  fruits  of  the  indus 
try  were  already  bleaching  and  swinging  in  the  fra 
grant  air  on  the  Sweet-Betty  bushes.  The  fire  smoul 
dered  almost  to  extinction  under  the  caldron,  which 
barely  steamed  with  a  dull,  lazily  wreathing,  lace-like 
vapor;  the  work  was  evidently  all  done.  Adelaide 
sat  upon  the  roots  of  a  tree,  her  arms  bare,  her  chin 
in  her  hand,  her  eyes,  that  had  learned  all  the  brack 
ish  woe  of  futile  weeping,  ponderingly  fixed  upon 
the  never-ceasing,  shifting  fall  of  the  water.  Letitia, 
too,  was  silent  as  she  leaned  upon  the  paddle  that 
was  used  to  beat  the  clothes  white,  its  end  poised 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        109 

upon  the  bench.  Moses,  seated  in  a  clumped  post 
ure,  with  his  legs  doubled  in  a  manner  impossible  to 
one  of  elder  years  and  less  elastic  frame,  now  and 
again  babbled  aloud  disconsolately,  and  ground  his 
gums  with  the  cruelty  of  rage  and  with  great  distor 
tion  of  his  indeterminate  features.  He  had  so  im 
placable  an  air  of  such  crusty  gravity  as  he  sat  on 
the  fine  green  moss,  with  his  obedient  vassals  about 
him,  and  his  newly  washed  habiliments,  ludicrously 
small,  swinging  on  the  perfumed  branches  of  the 
undergrowth,  that  he  might  have  provoked  a  smile 
from  one  less  preoccupied  than  Cheever.  The  keen 
eyes  of  the  horseman — very  watchful  they  were 
under  their  half-drooping  lids — were  fixed  upon  the 
two  young  women. 

The  horse,  alternately  bowing  low  and  tossing  up 
his  head  with  its  waving  mane,  moved  in  an  easy, 
light  walk  that  hardly  raised  a  mote  of  dust  upon  the 
road,  overgrown  with  the  encroaching  weeds,  and  in 
timating  few  passers.  The  sound  was  thus  muffled, 
and  Cheever  was  not  observed  until  he  was  close  at 
hand.  Letitia  was  first  to  recognize  him,  and,  as  she 
turned  toward  him,  her  blue  eyes  said  much,  he  felt, 
but  in  a  language  that  he  wot  not  of.  In  some  sort 
her  inscrutability  disconcerted  him.  He  was  sen 
sible  of  being  at  a  loss  as  he  reined  up  at  the  river 
side.  He  seemed  to  forget,  to  vaguely  fumble  for 
the  motive  that  led  him  here.  The  dreary  indiffer 
ence  on  Adelaide's  face  as  she  met  his  gaze  restored 
in  some  degree  his  normal  mental  attitude.  He  was 
conscious  of  a  sort  of  vague  wonder  that  there  was 
no  sehsc  of  humiliation,  of  mortified  pride,  in  its  ex 
pression.  The  supreme  calamity  of  her  loss  had 


110     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

dwarfed  into  nullity  all  the  opinion  of  others,  all  the 
bitterness  of  being  the  theme  of  pitying,  half -scornful 
gossip.  The  cove  was  nothing  to  her,  and  nothing 
all  it  could  say.  She  was  bereaved. 

As  to  Moses,  he  should  never  feel  the  loss ;  she 
would  be  to  him  father  and  mother  too.  And  if 
Moses  had  been  unduly  pampered  heretofore,  he  bade 
fair  now  to  break  the  record  of  all  spoiled  babies. 
Never  a  gesture  was  lost  upon  her,  never  a  tone  of 
his  oft  inharmonious  voice.  Now,  because  the  horse 
which  Cheever  rode  suddenly  caught  his  attention, 
and  his  discordant  remonstrance  with  his  teeth  ceased 
abruptly,  she  looked  around  with  a  wan,  pleased 
smile  curving  her  lips.  The  little  biped  gazed  up  at 
the  great,  overshadowing  four-footed  creature  with 
a  gasp  of  joy,  delighting  in  his  size  and  the  free  mo 
tion  of  his  whisking  tail.  A  dimple  came  out  in 
Dagon's  pink  cheek,  although  a  tear  still  glittered 
there.  He  was  suddenly  indifferent  to  his  teeth, 
and  showed  them  all  in  a  gummy  smile.  Then,  with 
a  self-confidence  in  ludicrous  disproportion  to  his 
inches,  he  pursed  his  lips,  and  giving  an  ineffectual 
imitation  of  a  chirrup,  and  a  flap  of  the  paw,  he 
sought  to  establish  personal  relations  with  the  big 
animal,  who  took  no  more  notice  of  the  great  Dagon 
than  if  he  had  been  a  wayside  weed,  but  bent  down 
his  head  and  pawed  the  ground. 

"  The  young  un  likes  the  horse,"  Cheever  ob 
served,  leniently,  conscious  of  sharing  the  "  young 
un's  "  weakness  in  equine  matters,  and  seizing  the 
opportunity  to  so  naturally  open  the  conversation, 
for  he  was  not,  in  a  manner,  received  at  the  'Yates 
house.  "  How  air  ye  a-comin'  on,  Mis'  Yates  ?"  he 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      Ill 

continued,  his  voice  seeking  a  cadence  of  sym 
pathy. 

"  Toler'ble  well,"  replied  Adelaide,  reticently, 
scarcely  disposed  to  discuss  her  sorrows  with  this 
interlocutor.  She  turned  her  eyes  toward  the  water 
fall  once  more,  and  her  quiet  reserve  would  have  dis 
couraged  another  man  from  pursuing  the  conversa 
tion.  Cheevcr,  blunt  as  his  sensibilities  were,  could 
have  hardly  failed  to  apprehend  the  intimations  of 
her  manner,  so  definite  were  they,  so  aided  by  the 
expression  of  her  face  ;  but  he  had  his  own  interest 
in  the  premises,  and  he  was  not  likely  to  be  easily 
rebuffed. 

"  I  hev  been  mightily  grieved  an'  consarned  ter 
hear  how  Steve  hev  tuk  an'  done,"  he  went  on,  his 
countenance  readily  assuming  a  more  sympathetic  cast 
than  was  normal  to  it,  since,  as  they  were  on  a  lower 
level,  his  downward  look  seemed  but  a  natural  slant, 
and  not  the  same  suspicious,  sneering,  supercilious 
disparagement  from  under  half  -  drooped  eyelids 
which  his  usual  survey  betokened.  "  I  war  powerful 
grieved,"  he  reiterated.  "  I  never  would  hev  looked 
fur  sech  conduc'  from  Steve." 

She  made  no  answer,  but  her  eyes  turned  restless 
ly  from  one  point  to  another  ;  her  face  was  agitated. 
It  was  a  critical  moment.  She  felt  as  though  she 
could  scarcely  forgive  herself  should  she  weep  to  the 
erratic  measure  of  Cheevcr's  shallow  commiseration. 
It  was  an  affront  to  her  sacred  grief.  And  she  had 
no  pretext  to  withdraw. 

Letitia  had  not  been  addressed,  but  she  seemed  to 
find  that  fact  no  hinderance  to  assuming  a  share  in 
the  conversation.  "  Ye  war  grieved  !"  she  exclaimed, 


112        IN    THE 

with  a  keen,  frosty  note  in  her  voice,  as  she  swayed 
her  weight  upon  the  paddle,  poised  on  the  wash- 
bench.  "  I  never  war  so  fee-totally  delighted  with 
nuthin'  in  my  life.  Steve  Yates  never  'peared  so 
extry  ter  me.  Moses  thai*  air  f  ower  times  the  man  he 
war,  an'  fower  times,  I  dun'no'  buijive  times  " — math 
ematically  accurate — "  better-lookin'.  I  never  war 
so  glad  in  all  my  life  ez  ter  hear  he  hed  vamosed." 

A  most  ingenuously  merry  face  she  had,  with  its 
red  lips  curving,  and  its  dimpled  cheeks  flushing,  as 
she  turned  her  clear  sapphire  eyes  up  to  the  rider  ; 
but  a  duller  man  than  he  might  have  read  the  daring 
and  the  ridicule  and  the  banter  in  their  shining 
spheres.  His  look  of  mingled  reproach  and  anger 
had,  too,  a  scornful  intimation  that  she  had  not  been 
spoken  to,  as  he  glanced  indifferently  away,  passing 
her  over.  This  was  implied  also  in  the  pause.  It 
seemed  as  if  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  make  a  re 
joinder.  It  was  Mrs.  Yates,  evidently,  with  whom  he 
wished  to  confer.  But  conversation  with  her  on  this 
theme  was  apparently  impracticable,  and  yet  on  this 
theme  only  would  he  talk.  He  therefore  sought  pres 
ently  to  make  the  best  of  the  situation,  and  to  avail 
himself  of  Letitia  as  a  medium  for  his  ideas.  He 
reckoned  for  a  time  without  his  host,  for  he  only  re 
ceived  a  superfluity  of  her  ideas. 

"  Waal,  sir,"  he  exclaimed  at  last,  in  polite  re 
proach,  "  I  dun'no'  why  ye  be  glad  he  is  gone.  I 
dun'no',  but  'pears  ter  me  ye  mought  be  more  corn- 
siderin'  o'  Mis'  Yates." 

"  Hev  ye  lived  ez  long  ez  ye  hev  in  this  life,  an' 
not  fund  out  yit  ez  nobody  cornsiders  nobody  else  ?" 
she  cried,  with  affected  cynicism.  "  Waal,  ye  air 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        113 

some  older  'n  me,"  she  continued,  blandly  smiling — 
conscious  of  his  grizzled  hair,  he  was  a  trifle  confused 
by  this  limited  way  of  putting  the  difference  in  years 
— "  but  1  be  plumb  overjoyed  o'  Steve's  caper,  'kase 
I  git  a  chance  ter  'company  Mis'  Yates.  Ye  know  " — 
looking  up  gravely  at  him—"  I  hev  hed  a  heap  o' 
trouble  a-fotchin'  up  my  parents  in  the  way  they 
should  go — specially  dad.  They  air  fractious  yit 
wunst  in  a  while.  An'  now  ef  they  ain't  obejient  an' 
keerful  o'  pleasin'  me,  I  jes'  kin  run  away  from  home 
an'  'company  Mis'  Yates.  An'  ef  Mis'  Yates  don't 
treat  me  right,  an'  Moses  gits  too  rampagious,  I  kin 
run  away  ter  my  home  folks  agin,  an'  fetch  up  my 
parents  some  mo'  in  the  way  they  should  go — spe 
cially  dad" 

Mrs.  Yates  gave  a  short  hysterical  laugh,  ending 
in  a  sob.  Cheever,  his  cheek  flushing  under  this 
ridicule,  looked  down  at  the  mocking  little  creature 
still  leaning  on  the  paddle  as  it  rested  upon  the  bench. 
Letitia's  face  had  grown  suddenly  grave.  Her  blue 
eyes,  with  a  strange  far-seeing  look  in  them,  seemed 
to  pierce  his  very  soul. 

"  Thar's  nuthin',"  she  said,  slowly — "thar's  nuthin' 
ter  improve  the  health  an'  the  sperits  an'  the  con- 
due'  o'  yer  family  like  runnin'  away.  Tell  Steve 
Yates  that  fur  me!" 

Ho  started  as  if  he  had  been  shot.  A  sharp,  half-ar 
ticulated  oath  escaped  his  lips.  His  manner  betokened 
great  anger,  and  his  eyes  burned.  He  could  hardly 
control  himself  for  a  moment,  and  Adelaide,  her  pale 
face  still  more  pallid  with  fear,  trembled  and  sprang 
to  her  feet. 

"  I  dun'no'  what  ye  mean  by  that,"  he  cried,  in- 


114      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

dignantly.  "  An'  ef  ye  war  a  man  ye  shouldn't  say 
it  twicet.  I  ain't  seen  Steve  Yates,  an'  ain't  like  ter 
see  him.  /  hed  nuthin'  ter  do  with  his  runnin' 
away.  Lord  !  Lord  !"  he  added,  bitterly,  "  I  'lowed 
some  folks  in  the  cove,  specially  some  o'  the  name 
o'  Pettingill" — he  had  forgotten  the  good  corn 
dodger — "hed  in  an'  about  accused  me  o'  every 
thing,  but  I  didn't  expec'  Stev.e  Yates's  runnin'  away, 
'kase  he  war  tired  o'  his  wife,  ter  be  laid  at  my  door. 
Naw,  Mis'  Yates" — he  turned  toward  her  earnestly — 
"  I  dun'no'  nuthiii1  o'  the  whar'bouts  o'  yer  husband. 
Ef  I  did,  I'd  go  arter  him  ef  'twar  fifty  mile,  an'  lug 
him  home  by  the  scruff  o'  his  neck  ter  his  wife  an' 
chile." 

"  I  b'-lieve  ye,"  said  Adelaide,  in  a  broken  voice, 
the  tears  coming  at  last — "  I  b'lieve  ye.  Don't  mind 
what  Litt  say.  She  always  talks  helter-skelter." 

Letitia  stood  looking  from  one  to  the  other,  her 
alert,  exquisitely  shaped  head,  with  the  hair  smooth 
upon  it,  save  where  it  curled  over  her  brow  and  hung 
down  from  the  string  that  gathered  the  ringlets  togeth 
er  at  the  nape  of  the  neck,  clearly  defined  against  the 
dark-green  foliage  of  the  young  pines,  that  brought 
out,  too,  in  high  relief  the  light  blue  of  her  cotton 
dress.  Her  glance  was  full  of  gay  incredulity,  and  she 
evidently  found  food  for  satiric  laughter  in  the  mental 
standpoint  of  first  one  and  then  the  other.  It  is  sel 
dom  that  a  creature  of  so  charming  an  aspect  is  the 
subject  of  so  inimical  a  look  as  that  which  he  bent 
upon  her.  But  he  replied  gently  to  Mrs.  Yates : 

"  Don't  ye  pester  'bout  that,  Mis'  Yates.  Ye  hev 
got  plenty  ter  pester  'bout  'thout  it.  I  jes'  kem  ter  ax 
ye  how  ye  war  a-goin'  ter  git  along  'bout  craps  an' 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         115 

cuttin'  wood  an'  sech  like.  I  be  mighty  willin'  ter 
kem  an'  plough  yer  corn  nex'  week  ef  'tain't  laid  by, 
an'  I  'lowed  I  could  haul  ye  a  load  o'  wood  wunst 
in  a  while  ef  ye  war  so  minded.  I  'low  everybody 
oughter  loan  ye  a  helpin'  han',  now  Steve  is  gone." 

Once  more  her  tears  flowed.  The  generosity  and 
kindness  implied  in  the  offer  touched  her  heart  as 
the  deed  might  have  done.  And  yet  her  gratitude 
humiliated  her  in  some  sort.  She  was  ashamed  to 
have  the  cause  to  be  beholden  to  such  as  Buck 
Cheever  for  a  kind  word  and  a  proffered  service. 
She  shook  her  head. 

"  Naw,"  she  said,  the  prosaic  words  punctuated  by 
her  sobs ;  "  the  corn's  laid  by,  an'  the  cotton  an' 
sorghum  an'  terbacco."  She  stopped  to  remember 
that  Steve  Yates,  constitutionally  a  lazy  fellow,  and 
fonder  far  of  the  woods  and  his  gun  than  of  the  fur 
row  and  the  plough,  had  never  failed  in  any  labor 
that  meant  comfort  to  the  household,  though  he  did 
little  for  profit.  She  recalled  like  a  flash  a  thousand 
instances  of  this  care  for  her  and  for  Moses.  Why, 
was  not  one  animal  of  every  kind — a  calf,  and  a 
lamb,  and  a  filly,  and  a  shote — upon  the  place  marked 
with  little  Moses's  own  brand  ?  She  wondered  how 
often  she  had  heard  Steve  say,  as  he  sat  meditating 
before  the  fire,  "  By  the  time  he's  twenty  he'll  hev 
some  head  o'  stock  o'  his  own,  ye  mark  my  words." 
And  last  year  the  cotton  was  soft  and  clean  beyond 
all  their  experience,  and  the  flax  was  fine,  and  the 
weaving  had  been  successful  out  of  the  common  run, 
and  little  Moses's  homely  clothes  thus  appeared  to 
their  unsophisticated  eyes  very  delicate  and  beauti 
ful,  and  she  had  been  almost  ashamed  of  Stephen's 


116      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY. 

pleasure  in  this  smart  toggery — it  seemed  so  femi 
nine.  And  now  lie  was  gone !  And  here  she,  the 
object  of  this  constant,  honest,  thrifty  care  of  the 
thriftless  Yates,  was  weeping  because  of  a  kind  word, 
and  thanking  Buck  Cheever  for  remembering  that 
she  might  need  to  have  wood  hauled. 

"  We  don't  need  wood,"  she  said,  "  'kase  Cousin 
Si  Anderson  sent  his  nevy,  Baker  Anderson — he's 
'bout  sixteen  year  old — ter  haul  wood  an'  be  in  the 
house  of  a  night,  'count  'o  robbers  an'  sech,  though 
Letishy  an'  me  air  nowise  skeery." 

"  Naw,"  put  in  Letitia,  suddenly ;  "  an'  I  didn't 
want  him  round  hyar,  nohow.  I  jes'  kin  view  how 
r^edic'lous  I'd  look  axin'  the  robber  ter  kem  in  an' 
help  wake  Baker  Anderson,  'kase  we-uns  couldn't 
wake  him — he  bein'  a  hard  sleeper,  sech  ez  Gabriel's 
trump  wouldn't  'sturb  from  his  slumber — so  ez  we 
could  git  the  boy  ter  the  p'int  o'  sightin'  a  rifle. 
Naw  !  Steve  war  perlite  enough  ter  leave  one  o'  them 
leetle  shootin'-irons  ye  call  pistols  hyar,  an'  plenty  o' 
loads  fur  it.  It's  handy  fur  folks  o'  my  size.  An' 
Moses  air  men  folks  enough  'bout  the  house  ter  suit 
my  taste." 

Cheever  made  no  sign  that  he  heard.  His  eyes 
still  rested  with  their  sympathetic  expression — pat 
ently  spurious — upon  Mrs.  Yates.  To  the  hard,  keen 
lines  of  his  face  the  affected  sentiment  was  curiously 
ill-adjusted.  Letitia's  eyes  were  fairly  alight  as  she 
gazed  at  him,  gauging  all  the  tenuity  of  this  aesthetic 
veneer. 

"  I  be  glad  ter  know  ye  air  so  well  pervided  fur, 
Mis'  Yates,"  he  said  ;  "  an'  so  will  all  yer  frien's  be. 
Ye  air  mighty  well  liked  in  the  cove  an'  the  mount- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     117 

ings  hyarabouts.  I  dun'no'  ez  I  ever  knowed  a 
woman  ter  hev  mo'  frien's.  Ye  hev  got  a  heap  o' 
frien's,  shore." 

"  Lots  of  'em  hev  been  hyar  jes'  ter  find  out  how 
she  takes  it,"  remarked  the  small  cynic.  "  An'  'fore 
they  go  away  they  air  obleeged  ter  see  ez  /  bear  up 
wonderful." 

Letitia  had  dropped  the  paddle,  and  was  leaning 
back  against  the  silver  bark  of  a  great  beech-tree. 
She  had  plucked  a  cluster  of  the  half-developed  nuts 
from  the  low-hanging  boughs,  and  as  she  bent  her 
head  and  affected  to  examine  them  she  half  hid  and 
half  vaunted  a  roguish  smile. 

"  They  hev  all  kem,  sech  acquaintances  ez  I  hev 
got,"  said  Adelaide,  flustered  by  this  attack  upon  the 
motives  of  the  community,  fearful  that  Cheever  might 
repeat  it,  and  thus  eager  to  set  herself  right  upon  the 
record.  "  Folks  hev  been  powerful  good ;  everybody 
hev  kem  round-about  ez  knowed  Steve." 

"  'Ceptin'  Mr.  Rhodes,"  observed  Letitia.  "  He 
war  toler'ble  constant  visitin'  hyar  whilst  in  the 
neighborhood  ez  long  ez  Steve  Yates  held  forth. 
But  ez  it  air  agin  the  religion  o'  wimmen  ter  vote, 
an'  they  think  it  air  a  sin,  this  hyar  wicked  Mr. 
Rhodes,  ez  air  stirrin'  up  all  the  men  folks  ter  tempt 
Satan  at  the  polls,  jcs'  bides  up  thar  at  some  folkscs 
ez  be  named  Pettingill,  they  tell  me,  a-nussin'  of  his 
nicked  head.  He  knows  Adelaide  an'  me  air  too 
righteous  ter  vote,  so  he  don't  kem  tryin'  ter  git  us 
ter  vote  fur  him." 

"  Whar's  Fee  Guthrie  ?"  asked  Cheever,  suddenly, 
reminded  of  him  by  the  allusion  to  the- wound  he  had 
given  the  candidate. 


118     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY. 

The  next  moment  there  was  a  sneer  upon  his  face, 
for  the  young  scoffer  had  changed  color.  It  crept 
up  from  the  flush  in  her  cheeks  to  the  roots  of  her 
hair ;  but  she  replied,  with  her  air  of  mock  serious 
ness: 

"  I  seem  ter  disremember  at  the  moment." 

Adelaide  was  dulled  by  the  trouble  and  the  preoc 
cupation  that  had  fallen  upon  her.  "  He  war  hyar 
this  mornin',  an'  yistiddy  too,"  she  remarked,  all  un 
conscious  of  any  but  the  superficial  meaning  of  what 
she  said.  "  He  'pears  ter  be  powerful  troubled  'bout 
his  soul." 

"  He  seems  ter  'low  ez  he  hev  got  a  soul,"  observed 
Letitia,  casually.  "  The  pride  o'  some  folks  is  as- 
tonishin'." 

"  He  'lowed  he  war  goin'  ter  the  woods  ter  pray," 
said  Adelaide. 

"  An'  I  tole  him,"  said  Letitia,  "  that  the  Lord 
mought  like  him  better  ef  he  went  ter  the  field  ter 
plough.  His  corn  is  spindlin',  an'  his  cotton  is 
mightily  in  the  grass.  But  it  takes  more  elbow 
grease  ter  plough  corn  an'  scrape  cotton  than  ter 
pray,  so  the  lazy  critter  is  prayin'." 

Her  complexion  had  recovered  its  normal  tints,  and 
she  laughed  at  this  fling  with  manifest  enjoyment, 
although  the  other  two  failed  to  respond — Adelaide 
deprecating  its  tone,  and  Cheever  preserving  an 
elaborate  manner  of  ignoring  that  she  had  spoken 
at  all. 

"  Waal,  waal,  Mis'  Yates,  I  mus'  be  ridin',"  he 
said,  gathering  up  the  reins.  "  Good-by.  Ef  ye 
want  me  fur  ennything  jes'  call  on  me,  an'  ye'll  do 
me  a  pleasure.  Yes,  'm." 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES"  COUNTRY.      119 

Her  recognizant  response  was  lost  in  the  tramp  of 
his  horse,  keen  to  be  off  on  the  first  intimation  that 
progress  was  in  order,  and  in  the  wail  which  Moses 
set  up  in  logical  prescience  that  the  admirable  quad 
ruped  was  to  be  withdrawn  from  his  enchanted  gaze. 
He  lunged  forward,  bending  his  elastic  body  almost 
double,  to  see  the  horse  go,  mane  and  tail  flying,  and 
with  the  sun  upon  his  neck  and  his  sides  that  had  a 
sheen  like  satin.  As  the  rider  was  turning  at  right 
angles  to  cross  the  rickety  bridge,  he  looked  back 
over  his  shoulder  at  the  group.  Adelaide's  dark  attire 
and  the  diminutive  size  of  Moses  rendered  them  al 
most  indistinguishable,  but  the  faint  blue  of  Letitia's 
dress  defined  her  figure  against  the  sombre  green  of 
the  banks  as  if  it  was  drawn  in  lines  of  light.  She 
had  not  changed  her  posture ;  her  face  was  still 
turned  toward  him.  He  knew  that  she  was  gazing 
after  him  as  tUe  fleet  hoofs  of  the  horse  with  the 
"  nigh  f ore-laig  crippled  "  swiftly  bore  him  into  invisi 
bility.  He  could  not  hear  her  words,  but  he  instinc 
tively  felt  that  she  spoke  of  him,  and  he  could  only 
vaguely  guess  their  import.  So  unflattering  were 
these  divinations  that  he  ground  his  teeth  with  rage 
at  the  thought. 

"  I  wisht  I  hed  never  seen  her,"  he  said,  as  the  hol 
low  beat  of  the  slackened  hoof  sounded  upon  the 
bridge.  "  I  wisht  I  hedn't  stopped.  But  who  would 
hev  thunk  ez  that  darned  leetle  consarn  would  hev 
been  so  all-fired  sharp  ez  ter  guess  it?  I  wisht  I 
hedn't  stopped  at  all." 

An  incongruous  fear,  surely,  for  a  man  like  this ; 
but  more  than  once,  as  he  rode,  he  looked  over  his 
shoulder  with  a  knitted  brow  and  a  furtive  eager  eye. 


120     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

Naught  followed  but  the  long  shadows  which  the 
sinking  sun  had  set  a-stalking  all  adown  the  valley. 
The  world  was  still.  He  heard  only  here  and  there 
the  ecstatic  burst  of  a  mocking-bird's  wonderful 
roulades.  Then  the  horse,  with  muscles  as  strong  as 
steel,  distanced  the  sound.  Once,  as  the  woods  on 
either  side  fell  away,  he  saw  the  west;  it  glowed 
with  purest  roseate  tints,  deepening  to  a  live  vermil 
ion  in  the  spaces  about  the  horizon  whence  the  sun 
but  now  had  blazed ;  the  nearest  mountains  were  dark 
ly  purple ;  the  northern  ranges  wore  a  crystalline, 
amethystine  splendor,  with  a  fine  green  sky  above 
them  that  had  an  opaque  hardness  of  color,  which 
gradually  merged  into  amber,  giving  way  at  the 
zenith  to  azure.  In  the  midst  of  all  a  great  palpitat 
ing  star  glistered,  so  white  that  with  these  strong 
contrasts  of  the  flaunting  heavens  one  might  feel,  for 
the  first  time,  a  full  discernment  gf  the  effect  of 
white. 

Another  moment  the  deep  woods  had  closed 
around,  and  it  seemed  that  night  had  come.  lie 
presently  ceased  to  follow  the  road.  The  jungle  into 
which  he  plunged  had  no  path,  no  sign  of  previous 
passing,  and  the  earth  was  invisible  beneath  the  inex 
tricable  interlacings  of  the  undergrowth.  But  if  the 
sense  of  man  was  at  fault,  the  good  horse  supplied 
the  lack  with  a  certain  unclassified  faculty,  and  with 
the  reins  on  his  neck  and  his  head  alert  pushed  on  at 
fair  speed,  stepping  gingerly  over  the  boles  of  fallen 
trees,  making  his  way  around  insurmountable  boul 
ders,  swimming  a  deep  and  narrow  pool ;  and  finally, 
in  struggling  up  the  opposite  bank,  he  uttered  a 
whinny  of  triumph  and  recognition  that  bespoke  his 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      121 

journey's  end.  The  sound  rang  through  the  evening 
stillness  of  the  woods  with  abrupt  effect,  repeated  a 
thousand  times  by  the  echoes  of  the  huge  rocks  that 
lay  all  adown  the  gorge.  The  place  might  realize  to 
the  imagination  the  myths  of  magic  castles  to  be 
summoned  into  symmetry  out  of  the  craggy  chaos  by 
some  talismanic  word.  It  was  easy  to  fancy,  in  the 
solitude  and  the  pensive  hour,  castellated  towers  in 
those  great  rugged  heights,  a  moat  in  the  deep  pool, 
even  a  gateway,  a  narrow  space  above  which  the 
cliffs  almost  met.  Buck  Cheever  wot  of  none  of 
these  things,  and  no  fancied  resemblance  embellished 
the  stolidity  of  his  recognition  of  the  place  as 
"mighty  handy"  for  his  purposes.  Perhaps  the 
horse  had  more  imagination,  for  when  his  owner  dis 
mounted  and  sought  to  lead  him  through  this  narrow 
space,  that  seemed  a  broken  doorway  to  an  unroofed 
tunnel — so  consecutive  were  the  crags,  so  nearly 
their  summits  approached  each  other — he  held  back, 
making  a  long  neck,  hanging  heavily  on  the  bridle, 
and  lifting  each  hoof  reluctantly. 

"  D yer  durned  hide  !  ain't  ye  never  goin'  ter 

1'arn  nuthin',  many  times  ez  ye  hev  been  hyar  ?"  cried 
his  master. 

Thus  encouraged,  the  horse  slowly  followed  Chee 
ver  along  the  narrow  passway  between  the  cliffs,  that 
finally  met  in  a  veritable  tunnel,  which  might  have 
seemed  an  entrance  into  a  cave,  save  that  at  its  ex 
tremity  Cheever  emerged  into  a  lighted  space  and 
the  free  out-door  air,  and  stood  facing  the  western 
skies. 

Nevertheless,  the  ledges  of  the  cliff  extended,  roof- 
like,  far  out  above ;  its  walls  were  on  either  side ; 


122      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

the  solid  rock  was  beneath  his  feet.  It  was  a  gigan 
tic  niche  in  the  crags,  to  which  the  subterranean  pas 
sage  alone  gave  access,  one  side  being  altogether 
open,  showing  the  tops  of  the  trees  on  the  low  oppo 
site  bank  of  the  river,  the  stream  itself  in  the  deep 
gorge  below,  and  many  and  many  a  league  of  cloud- 
land.  This  unexpected  outlook,  these  large  liberties 
of  airy  vision,  formed  the  salient  feature  of  the  place, 
dwarfing  for  the  first  moment  all  other  properties. 
On  the  resplendent  background  of  the  sunset,  still 
richly  aglow,  the  slouching  figures  of  a  group  of  half 
a  dozen  men  about  a  smouldering  fire  had  an  odd  de 
humanized  effect.  Familiar  though  he  was  with  these 
uncanny  silhouettes,  he  started  violently,  and  hesi 
tated,  as  if  about  to  turn  and  flee. 


VI. 

His  gesture  elicited  a  guffaw. 

"  Hold  on,  Buck,"  cried  one  of  the  men,  affecting 
to  clutch  him  to  stay  his  flight. 

"  <  Stan'  the  storm  ;  it  won't  be  long,'  "  trolled  out 
another,  a  rich  stave,  with  the  resonance  of  the  echo 
ing  walls.  "  What  ye  feared  o',  Buck — the  devil  ? 
He  don't  keer  ter  'sociate  none  with  we-uns  ez  long 
ez  ye  air  abroad  an'  afoot." 

"  I  dun'no'  what  ails  my  eyes,"  stiid  Cheever,  visi 
bly  disconcerted,  and  passing  his  hand  across  his 
brow,  as  he  still  stood  near  the  entrance,  the  bridle 
in  his  hand,  the  fine  head  of  the  impatient  horse  at 
his  shoulder. 

"  Think  ye  see  the  devil  ?"  cried  another,  jeeringly. 

Cheever  colored,  and  frowned  heavily.  The  ridi 
cule  elicited  what  other  means  might  have  failed  to 
lead  forth.  He  could  not  brook  this  merry  inso 
lence,  these  flouts  at  his  momentary  fright.  He  jus 
tified  it. 

"  I  'lowed  I  seen  another  m.an,  what  ain't  hyar,  an' 
never  war,"  he  said,  gruffly,  looking  out  at  them 
from  his  drooping  lids,  his  chin  high  in  the  air.  The 
words  seemed  to  have  subtly  transferred  his  transient 
terror.  It  took  a  longer  lease  in  the  exchange. 

There  was  a  momentary  silence,  while  they  stared 
with  sudden  gravity  at  him.  A  sort  of  remon- 


124      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

strance,  a  struggle  against  credulity,  was  in  the 
square  face  of  one  burly  fellow,  seeming  less  a  dark, 
illegible  simulacrum  of  a  man  than  the  others,  since 
he  stood  at  an  angle  where  the  light  fell  slanting 
upon  his  features. 

"  AVhat  man,  now  ?"  Derridge  said,  in  a  deep  bass 
voice,  and  the  argumentative  accents  of  one  who  will 
tolerate  in  evidence  only  fact  and  right  reason.  His 
tone  seemed  to  challenge  the  name  of  the  rash  being 
who,  in  corporal  absence,  should  venture  in  simili 
tude  among  them. 

"  Dad  burn  ye,  shet  up !"  cried  Cheever.  "  I 
couldn't  see  his  face.  He  turned  it  away.  Whenst 
I  looked  at  him  he  turned  it  away." 

"  In  the  name  o'  Gawd !"  ejaculated  one  of  the 
men,  in  a  low-toned  quaver. 

Another,  one  Bob  Millroy,  Cheever's  mainstay 
and  lieutenant,  glanced  over  his  shoulder.  "  He 
ain't  hyar  now?"  he  demanded,  in  expostulatory 
haste. 

"  Naw,  naw  !"  exclaimed  Cheever,  recovering  him 
self,  the  more  quickly  as  a  monition  of  the  possi 
ble  disintegration  of  his  gang,  under  the  pressure  of 
this  mysterious  recruit  to  their  number,  flitted  across 
his  mind.  "  Naw ;  he  went  ez  soon  ez  I  kem. 
Thar,  now  !"  he  continued,  more  lightly ;  "  I  know 
how  it  happens."  He  broke  into  a  laugh  that  might 
have  seemed  strained,  save  that  the  rocks  made  such 
fantastic  riot  in  the  acoustics  of  the  place.  "  It's 
Steve  Yates.  I'm  used  ter  seein'  six  men,  an'  whenst 
I  count  my  chickens  thar's  seven.  I  looked  ter  see 
jes'  six !"  and  he  laughed  again. 

"But  Steve  air  over  yander  in  the  shaddcr !"  ex- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      125 

postulated  Derridge,  the  disciple  of  pure  reason. 
"  Ye  couldn't  Lev  seen  him  at  all." 

"  Waal,  then,"  sneered  Cheever,  "  I  seen  double. 
They  say  thar  air  good  men,  an'  ministers  o'  the  gos 
pel,  ez  kin  view  a  few  more  snakes  'n  -air  nateral  ter 
thar  vision  whenst  the  liquor  air  strong;  an'  that 
thar  whiskey  o'  old  Pettingill's  kin  walk  a  mile,  I 
reckon,  ef  need  war." 

The  others  had  hardly  recovered  from  the  super 
stitious  thrill  induced  by  the  explanation  of  the 
strange  agitation  that  beset  him  upon  his  entrance. 
They  were  ill-prepared  to  so  summarily  cast  the  sub 
ject  aside,  and  stood  still,  with  preoccupied,  dilated 
eyes,  mechanically  grazing  at  him  as  he  turned  light 
ly  toward  Yates,  who  rose  from  a  saddle  on  which 
he  had  half  reclined  beside  the  fire.  The  young 
mountaineer's  face  had  a  tinge  of  pallor,  despite  its 
sunburn.  His  dull  brown  eyes  were  restless  and 
anxious.  He  was  hardly  an  apt  scholar  for  schem 
ing  and  dissimulation,  but  he  sought  an  air  of  ease 
and  satisfaction  as  he  asked : 

"  Waal,  did  ye  hear  ennything  o'  my  fambly  in 
yer  travels  ?" 

Cheever,  all  himself  again,  clapped  him  on  the 
shoulder  with  a  heartiness  that  made  the  blow  ring 
through  the  high  stone  vault.  "  I  seen  'em,  my  fine 
young  cock,  I  seen  'em.  I  wouldn't  take  no  hearsay 
on  it.  I  seen  Mis'  Yates  herself,  an'  talked  a  haffen 
hour  with  her.  An'  I  seen  Moses." 

Steve  Yates  made  shift  to  glance  at  him  once,  then 
he  turned  his  eyes  away  toward  the  western  sky, 
nodding  repeatedly,  but  silently,  to  the  items  of  news 
with  which  Cheever  favored  him. 


126   IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

• 

"  Mis'  Yates  ain't  wantin'  fur  nutliin',  though 
Moses  wants  everything,  'ceptin*  teeth ;  like  ter  hev 
took  my  horse-critter  away  from  me,  willy-nilly  ! 
Mis'  Yates  hev  got  that  thar  ugly,  leetle,  frazzle-head 
ed  Pettingill  vixen  ter  'company  her,  an'  Baker  An 
derson  with  his  rifle  bides  thar  o'  nights.  Mis'  Yates 
war  cheerful  an'  laffin'.  *  Steve  will  kem  back  whenst 
he  gits  tired,'  she  say.  <  He  an'  me  had  words  'fore 
he  lef.  I'll  hold  out  ez  long  ez  he  kin,'  she  say. 
*  I  don't  believe  he  hev  done  nuthin'  agin  the  law,' 
she  say.  '  But  ef  he  hev,'  she  say,  *  he  air  better  off 
away  than  hyar  at  home,  'kase  lynchers  air  mighty 
lawless  round  these  parts.'  An'  she  say,  '  I  know 
Steve  air  man  enough  ter  take  keer  o'  hisself  an' 
do  fur  the  bes',  an'  I'm  willin'  ter  bide  by  what  he 
do.' " 

Alack  !  that  a  lie  can  so  counterfeit  the  truth  !  To 
this  wily  and  specious  representation  Stephen  Yates 
listened  with  his  eyes  full  of  tears,  afraid  to  trust  a 
glance  upon  the  face  of  his  crafty  companion. 

"  She  say,"  Cheever  went  on,  "  ef  Steve  hev  done 
ennything  agin  the  law,  I  hope  he'll  make  hisself 
sca'ce.' " 

The  other  men,  now  affecting  to  stroll  about  in  the 
ample  spaces  of  the  cavernous  place,  busying  them 
selves  with  replenishing  the  fire  or  feeding  the 
horses,  of  which  there  were  half  a  dozen  in  a  shad 
owy  nook  that  seemed  to  extend  downward  to  fur 
ther  subterranean  regions,  all  gave  furtive  heed  to 
these  domestic  reports.  Ever  and  again  they  eyed 
the  disingenuous  face  of  the  narrator  with  its  half- 
closed  lids  and  flexible  lips.  Then  they  would  look 
at  one  another,  and  slyly  wink  their  recognition  of 


COUNTRY.         127 

his  craft.  One  of  them,  standing  with  his  hands  in 
his  pockets  and  with  a  fire-lit  face  above  the  blazing 
logs,  after  a  survey  of  this  sort,  grotesquely  imitated 
the  speaker's  attitude  and  gesture,  and  silently 
worked  his  jaws  with  abnormal  activity,  as  if  in 
emulation  of  Cheever's  ready  eloquence,  shook  his 
head  in  affected  despair,  and  desisted  amid  a  smoth 
ered  titter  from  the  rest. 

"  Moses  hev  got  another  tooth  ;  mighty  nigh  ez 
long  ez  a  elephint's  I  seen  at  Colbury,  I  told  him ; 
an'  it  seemed  ter  make  him  mad — leastwise  madder'n 
he  war  at  fust.  He  wouldn't  take  no  notice  o'  me, 
'ceptin'  whenst  I  put  rny  finger  in  his  mouth  ter 
view  his  teeth,  an'  durned  ef  he  didn't  nearly  bite 
it  off.  Oh,  ye  needn't  ter  trouble,  Steve ;  ye  air  all 
right,  an'  hev  done  the  bes'  ye  could,  cornsiderin' 
all" 

"  I  reckon  so  !  I  hope  so  !"  said  Yates,  with  some 
thing  very  like  a  sob. 

They  all  sat  around  the  fire  late  that  night,  after 
their  supper  of  venison  broiled  on  the  coals,  and 
corn-bread  baked  in  the  ashes,  and  washed  down 
with  a  plentiful  allowance  of  innocent-looking  moon 
shine  whiskey,  colorless  and  clear  as  spring  water. 
The  stars  seemed  very  near,  looking  in  at  the  wide 
portals  of  the  niche ;  the  tops  of  the  gigantic  trees 
swaying  without  were  barely  glimpsed  above  the 
verge.  The  shadows  of  the  men  lengthened  over 
the  floor,  or  fluctuated  on  the  wall  as  the  flames  rose 
or  fell.  Now  and  again  the  fire-light  was  strong 
enough  to  show  the  horses  at  their  improvised  man 
ger  in  those  recesses  where  the  darkness  promised 
further  chambers  of  the  cavern.  One  steed  lay  upon 


128         IN    THE 

the  ground,  the  others  stood,  some  still  and  drows 
ing,  but  more  than  once  the  sharp  pawing  of  an  iron- 
shod  hoof  challenged  the  abrupt  echoes. 

Outside,  so  sweet,  so  pure  was  the  summer  night ; 
the  buds  of  the  elder-bush  were  riven  into  blooms, 
the  mocking-bird  piped  for  the  rising  moon,  the 
katydids  twanged  a  vibrant  note,  and  the  river  sang 
the  self-same  song  it  had  learned  in  the  prehistoric 
days  of  the  pygmies.  Even  so  still,  so  calmly  pen 
sive  was  the  time  that  the  far-away  murmur  of  the 
water-fall  came  to  Yates's  ears,  or  it  may  be  to  his 
memory  only,  which  transmitted  the  fancy  trans 
muted  in  sound  to  his  sense.  He  lounged,  half  pil 
lowed  upon  his  saddle,  in  the  circle  about  the  fire, 
and  strove  to  drink  and  laugh  and  talk  with  the  rest. 
Many  a  merry  jest  had  those  walls  echoed,  seeming 
almost  sentient  in  emulation  of  the  boisterous  joy. 
To-night,  somehow,  they  had  forgotten  their  jovial 
wiles.  More  than  once  the  echo  of  laughter  qua^ 
verod  off  into  strange  sounds  that  the  ear  shrank  to 
hear,  and  one  after  another  of  the  brawny  fellows 
looked  furtively  over  his  shoulder. 

A  sudden  jar — only  a  screech-owl  shrilling  in  a 
tree  on  the  river-bank  below — but  one  of  the  men 
was  on  his  feet,  all  a4remble,  crying  out,  "  What's 
that  ?"  And  this  was  the  bold  Cheever. 

"  Put  tip  yer  pistol,  ye  darned  idjit !"  exclaimed 
Derridge,  the  disciple  of  reason.  "  Don't  ye  know 
a  squeech-owel  whenst  ye  hear  one?  Ye  must  bo 
plumb  sodden  in  Pettingill  whiskey." 

Cheever,  with  a  half-articulate  oath,  sank  back 
upon  the  saddle  upon  which  he  half  lay  and  half  sat, 
and  presently  evolved  an  excuse  for  his  nervousness. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      129 

He   had  something  too  in  his  face   that  implied  a 
doubt,  a  need  of  support,  a  wish  for  counsel. 

"  That  gal  at  Yates's,  I  mean  Litt  Pettingill,  sorter 
purtended  ez  she  b'lieved  ez  I  knowed  o'  Steve's 
wharabouts.  Now  Steve's  welcome  to  shelter  with 
we-uns.  But  I'd  hate  it  powerful  ef  jes'  'kase  he  fell 
in  with  we-uns  that  night  ez  he  war  a-goin'  fur  the 
doctor  ter  patch  Len  Rhodes's  head,  'twar  ter  be  the 
means  o'  draggin'  the  law  down  on  we-uns,  an'  git- 
tin'  it  onto  our  trail." 

"  Ye  mus'  hev  said  suthin'.  She  couldn't  jes'  hev 
drawed  the  idee  out'n  within?  "  reasoned  the  deep 
bass  voice  of  Derridge,  who  wore  a  severe  and  repre- 
hensive  frown.  "  Ye  air  a  smart  man,  Buck,  an'  I 
ain't  denyin'  it  none,  but  whenst  a  man  talks  ez  much 
ez  you-uns  he  can't  gin  keerful  heed  ter  all  his  words, 
an'  ye  mils'  hev  said  suthin'  ez  gin  her  a  hint.  Folks 
kin  talk  too  much,  specially  whenst  they  set  np  ter 
be  smart"  He  was  a  silent  man  himself,  and  was  ac 
counted  slow. 

Cheever  sneered.  "  Ye  air  powerful  brigaty  ter- 
night.  I  reckon  I  be  ekal  ter  keepin'  a  secret  from 
enny  gal  folks.  Leastwise  I  hev  knowed  a  power  o' 
secrets  an'  cornsider'ble  gal  folks.  An'  they  never 
got  tergether  ez  I  ever  hearn  tell  on." 

This  was  logic,  and  it  silenced  his  interlocutor. 
They  all  sat  musing  for  a  time,  while  the  smoke 
mounted  into  the  lofty  dome  of  the  niche,  and  the 
fire  leaped  fitfully,  casting  its  flicker  on  all  their 
faces,  and  the  whole  interior,  a  dull  red  and  a  dusky* 
brown,  seemed  a  discordant  contrast  to  the  white, 
lucent  light  of  the  unseen  moon,  stretching  across 
the  shadowy  landscape.  Dew  there  was  on  the  trees 
9 


130      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

without ;  it  scintillated  now  and  then,  and  far  away 
rose  soft  and  noiseless  mists.  More  than  once  the 
night  sighed  audibly  in  sheer  pensiveness. 

"  Boys,"  said  Bob  Millroy,  suddenly,  "  I  be  a  be 
liever  in  signs." 

There  was  a  motionless  interest  in  every  face 
turned  toward  him.  A  contagion  of  credulity  was 
in  the  very  word. 

"  Hyar  we-uns  hev  been,"  he  went  on,  "  a-goin' 
tergether  fur  many  a  day  in  secret,  an'  sech  ez  our 
workin's  air  they  ain't  'cordin'  ter  law  nor  the  'pinion 
o'  the  cove.  An'  I  ain't  felt  'feard  nowise — though 
some  mought  say  the  hemp  air  growed  an'  spun,  an' 
the  rope  air  twisted — till  this  evenin',  whenst  Buck 
Cheever  seen  an'  extry  man  'mongst  we-uns,  ez  turned 
away  his  face.  Sence  then  the  fire's  cold !" 

He  spread  out  his  hands  toward  it,  shaking  his 
head  in  token  of  the  futility  of  its  swift  combustion, 
with  its  flashes  and  sparkle  and  smoke,  as  he  chafed 
them  together. 

**  Lord  A'mighty,  ye  durned  cowardly  fool !"  cried 
the  leader  of  the  party,  beside  himself  with  anxiety 
and  many  a  premonition.  "  Didn't  I  tell  ye  agin 
'twar  jes'  Steve,  ez  I  never  looked  ter  view,  bein'  ez 
he  ain't  reg'lar  'mongst  we-uns  ?" 

"  Ye  'lowed  he  turned  his  face  away,"  said  the  be 
liever  in  signs. 

"  Waal,  hev  Steve  got  enny  crick  in  his  neck  that 
disables  him  from  a-turnin'  of  his  face  away?"  de 
manded  Cheever. 

"  He  war  in  the  shadder ;  ye  never  seen  Steve," 
said  Derridge,  slowly  shaking  his  logical  head. 

"He  turned  his  face  away  so  ez  ye  mought  not 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S''7  COUNTRY.    131 

view  it,"  said  Millroy,  with  a  credulity  that  coerced 
responsive  conviction. 

Cheever  was  shaken.  He  suddenly  desisted  from 
argument.  "  Who  air  ye  a-'lowin'  'twar  ?"  he  de 
manded  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  fire. 

The  ligaments  of  his  neck  were  elongated  as  he 
thrust  his  head  forward.  The  fire-light  showed  only 
a  glassy  glitter  where  it  struck  upon  the  eyeballs  be 
neath  his  half-closed  lids.  Bereft  of  the  expression 
of  his  eyes,  it  was  wonderful  how  much  of  suspense, 
of  petrified  expectation,  of  the  presage  of  calamity, 
the  hard  lines  of  his  face  conveyed. 

"  'Twar  him  we  met  up  with  on  the  road  that 
night,"  said  Millroy,  who  from  the  affluence  of  his 
resources  of  conjecture  could  afford  to  dispense  with 
mere  proof  and  fact. 

Cheever  was  conscious  that  the  others  were  watch 
ing  him  with  the  urgent  anxiety  of  those  who  have 
a  personal  interest  at  stake.  The  sense  of  emergency 
was  substituted  for  courage. 

"  I  wish  'twar,"  he  said,  coolly.  "  He  ain't  dead — 
a  mighty  pity  !  I'd  give  the  bes'  horse  I  ever  see  " — 
he  nodded  his  head  toward  the  gallant  roan — "  ef  I 
could  view  his  harnt." 

There  was  an  evident  revulsion  in  the  plastic  minds 
of  his  followers.  They  had  no  sense  of  consistency 
to  sustain  adherence  to  any  dogma.  Millroy  was  in 
the  minority  when  he  said,  still  mysteriously  shaking 
his  head,  "  I'll  bet  the  minit  ye  seen  him  'mongst  we- 
uns  an'  he  turned  his  head  away  war  the  minit  o' 
his  takin'  off." 

"  Ye  air  always  skeered  o'  yer  shadder,  Bob,"  said 
Cheever ;  "  an'  I  never  knowed  a  feller  so  rich  in 


132      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

signs  ez  kem  ter  nuthin'.  That  man  would  be  pow 
erful  welcome  hyar  in  the  sperit.  I  be  a  heap  more 
pestered  'kase  we  let  him  git  off  soul  an'  body  ter- 
gether.  I  know  he  war  shot.  I  dun'no'  who  fired 
it " — he  mechanically  closed  his  right  hand  as  upon 
the  handle  of  a  pistol,  his  first  finger  extended  and 
crooked  upon  the  imaginary  trigger,  while  the  ob 
servant  Bob  Millroy  scanned  with  unspoken  deduc 
tions  the  unconscious,  involuntary  gesture.  "  I  never 
thunk  he  war  much  hurt,  though  ez  he  went  scour- 
in'  off  he  war  bowed  ter  the  saddle-bow,  but  that  war 
ter  escape  the  bullets  ez  kem  arter  him.  He'll  live 
ter  lead  a  posse  an'  the  sher'ff  ter  the  spot,  mos'  like 
ly  ;  Pm  'feared  o'  that.  I'd  delight  ter  see  his 
harnt." 

"  Bo*b  oughter  hev  a  muzzle,"  said  the  reasonable 
Derridge,  irritably — "  ter  keep  him  from  spittin'  out 
signs  hyar,  whilst  we-uns  oughter  be  cornsiderin'  how 
the  law  mought  be  takin'  us,  red-handed,  with  all  our 
plunder  ter  convict  us  " — he  cast  a  glance  at  certain 
saddle-bags  that  lay  close  to  Cheever's  side.  "  He  jes' 
sets  up  an'  gins  us  a  sign  fur  this,  an'  a  warnin'  fur 
that,  till  we  air  plumb  wore  out  with  his  foolishness." 

"  This  place  be  safe  enough,  I'm  a-thinkin' ;  no 
use  a-worryin'  an'  a-fussin',"  said  the  unctuous  voice 
of  Pete  Beckett,  always  full  of  a  hopeful  content,  and 
like  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters. 

The  others  listened  with  clearing  countenances, 
but  Cheever  shook  his  head.  "Revenuers  know  it; 
they  raided  a  still  hyar  wunst."  The  red  fire-light 
on  the  circle  of  faces  showed  their  alarm  at  the  recol 
lection,  the  prophetic  suggestion.  "  Old  man  Peake 
run  it." 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         133 

"  Ye  'low  ef  they  war  ter  s'picion  ennybody  round 
abouts,  they  mought  s'arch  hyar,"  said  Derridge, 
drawing  the  logical  conclusion. 

"  Edzac'ly,"  said  Cheever,  impatient  of  the  waste  of 
words  by  so  patent  a  deduction. 

"  They  do  say,"  remarked  Millroy,  sepulchrally, 
"that  arter  Zeb  Tait  went  deranged,  he  hid  hyar 
whenst  they  wanted  ter  jail  him  ez  a  crazy." 

"  Too  crazy  ter  want  ter  go  ter  jail,"  exclaimed 
Derridge,  satirically. 

"  An',"  pursued  Millroy,  lugubriously,  "  he  starved 
hisself  ter  death  in  this  place  ;  leastwise  they  fund 
his  corpse  hyar,  though  he  mought  hev  died  from  his 
ailment.  But  I  dun'no'  ef  folks  do  die  from  jes'  be- 
in'  crazy  an'  bereft." 

"  Naw,  they  don't,"  said  Cheever,  suddenly,  "  else 
yc'd  hev  been  dead  long  ago,  ez  crazy  a  loon  ez  ever 
went  a-gibbcrin'  o'  foolishness  around." 

Somehow  his  magnetic  quality  was  at  fault.  The 
others  failed  to  fall  in  with  his  humor.  They  all 
sat  silent,  staring  at  the  red  coals ;  the  image  of  the 
distraught,  solitary  crcature,*who  had  in  the  secret 
stronghold  of  the  mountains  wrought  out  his  terrible 
doom,  was  in  the  mind  of  each. 

Millroy  spoke  rather  to  their  thought  than  to  the 
words  of  Cheever,  when  he  said,  "  The  buzzards  an' 
the  eagles  flyin'  an'  flustcrin'  round  the  body  led  the 
shcr'ff  ter  the  spot." 

The  prosaic  word,  full  of  worldly  omen,  broke  the 
breathless  spell. 

"  An'  the  sheriff  knows  the  place,  too  !"  cried  Der 
ridge.  "  Waal " — he  turned  his  eyes,  at  once  furi 
ous  and  upbraiding  and  full  of  prescient  terror,  upon 


134      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE 

Cheever — "  hell-fire  be  my  portion  ef  I  don't  think 
ye  hev  tuk  the  mos'  public  place  about  the  cove  fur 
these  hyar  doin's" — he  pointed  at  the  saddle-bags. 
"  An'  a  man  in  Colbury  either  dead  by  this  time, 
with  warrants  sworn  out  for  we-uns,  or  else  on  our 
track  ter  identify  us  fur  the  sher'ff." 

"  I  tuk  this  place  'kase  'twar  our  reg'lar  stampin'- 
groun',"  cried  Cheever,  lifting  his  voice  to  defend 
himself  against  the  burly,  swelling  tones  of  his  accus 
er.  "  It  air  ez  safe  ez  enny  other.  Thar  ain't  none 
o'  us  out  o'  place  'ceptin'  Steve."  He  winked  slyly  at 
the  others,  for  the  young  mountaineer  lay  a  little  in 
the  shadow  and  a  trifle  behind  him.  So  blunted  was 
the  conscience,  the  humanity  in  each,  that  the  sense 
of  possessing  a  scape-goat,  the  opportunity  of  profit 
on  another's  injury,  had  a  suave  and  unctuous  in 
fluence  to  heal  their  dissension.  "  We-uns,  why, 
we-uns  air  some  a-herdin'  o'  cattle  twenty  mile  away 
on  the  Balds ;  some  war  in  Car'liny  yistiddy  tradin' 
fur  cattle  " — he  pointed  at  the  mire  on  the  boots  of 
two  of  the  party — "  Buncombe  County  mud  !  An'  / 
hev  jes'  got  back  from^idin'  in  open  daylight  about 
the  cove,  with  my  mouth  an'  eyes  stretched  ter  hear 
how  Yates  hev  disappeared.  I  be  a-goin'  home  ter- 
morrer  ter  git  salt  fur  my  cattle  " — he  put  on  a  wag 
gishly  virtuous  air.  "  An'  /war  thar  ter-day,  ez  my 
fambly  kin  testify.  'Tain't  safe,  though,  I  know,  ter 
keep  this  truck  hyar  long" — he  winked  at  the  saddle 
bags — "  nor  ter  divide  it  yit." 

The  alert  expression  with  which  each  man  heark 
ened  to  the  allusion  of  partition  was  eminently  sug 
gestive  of  the  pricking-up  of  ears.  Indeed,  as  they 
all  sat  indistinct  in  the  shadow  and  the  flicker,  there 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      135 

was  something  dog-like  or  wolf-like  in  the  whetted 
expectancy  of  their  waiting  attention. 

"  I  laid  off  ter  hide  it  hyar  fur  ter-night  an'  ter- 
morrer,"  continued  Cheever,  "an'  whilst  some  gyards 
it,  the  t'others  go  off  an'  show  tharsef  s  in  place — 'cept- 
in'  Steve  " — his  thin,  expressive  lips  were  slightly 
elongated.  "  The  news  'ain't  got  ter  the  cove  yit, 
but  time  it  do  they  will  all  be  fur  stringin'  him  up. 
Him — Jcnowed  ter  be  on  that  road  that  night  at  that 
hour,  an1  ' }  ain't  never  showed  up  no  mo\" 

A  grin  of  many  conceits  was  upon  his  countenance, 
unseen  by  the  subject  of  conversation,  while  the 
men  in  the  full  flare  of  the  fire-light  had  some  ado 
to  suppress  any  facial  response  of  relish.  For  in 
this  circumstance  the  dullest  amongst  them  found  it 
easy  to  discern  their  safety.  Some  discussion  en 
sued  as  to  the  best  method  of  secreting  the  treasure 
until  it  should  be  safe  to  divide  and  use  it. 

"Jest  ter  think,"  remarked  Cheever,  with  jovial 
hypocrisy,  "  o'  the  strange  workin's  o'  Providence. 
All  we-uns  war  arter  war  the  man's  horse — jes  ter 
take  the  horse-critter  an'  turn  the  man  a-foot  in  the 
road — an'  stiddier  that  we  tuk  this  pile  o'  money. 
It  '11  buy  a  hundred  sech  horses." 

Perhaps  it  was  because  of  the  succumbing  of  their 
fears  in  the  drowsy  influences  of  the  hour,  waxing 
late,  perhaps  because  of  the  confidence  engendered 
by  elation  and  success,  but  a  new  sentiment  of  se 
curity,  of  capability,  was  perceptible  upon  the  mere 
mention  of  their  exploit,  and  several  were  disposed 
to  dilate  upon  the  future  expenditure  of  their  share 
rather  than  to  devise  means  to  properly  secrete 
it.  Here  was  where  they  seemed,  strangely  enough, 


136      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

Yates  thought,  to  misunderstand  Cheever.  He  took 
little  part  in  the  discussion  ;  he  listened  to  each  with 
a  sneering  negation,  half  masked  beneath  his  lowered 
eyelids,  and  Yates  readily  divined  that  none  prob 
ably  would  know  the  hiding-place  of  the  plunder 
but  himself  and  Millroy,  his  loyal  henchman,  and  the 
only  one  of  them  all  in  whom  he  really  reposed  any 
confidence. 

Derrid^e  sat  gazing  at  the  embers ;  once  he  offer 
ed  a  characteristic  observation.  "  I  know  'twouldn't 
do  ter  keep  it  hyar  till  the  s'arch  be  over,"  he  said, 
ponderingly,  accepting  Cheever's  suggestion,  "  an' 
'twouldn't  do  fur  all  o'  we-uns  ter  light  out  fur  Tex 
as  an'  sech  tergether.  The  folks  would  be  a-talkin' 
'bout  our  vainosin'  like  Steve  done,  an'  the  sher'if 
would  be  on  our  track  with  a  requisition.  An'  it 
hev  ter  be  hid ;  not  in  the  woods,  'kase  we-uns  might 
lose  the  spot,  or  a  big  rain  mought  wash  the  dirt 
oif'n  it,  or  sech." 

"  I  tell  ye,"  interjected  Beckett,  with  a  swift 
look  of  inspiration.  "  You  know  old  Squair  Bea- 
men's  fambly  buryin'-groun'.  Old  Mis'  Beamen  hev 
got  a  tombstone  like  a  big  box.  Lift  up  the  top, 
and  put  the  truck  in  thar." 

"  I'd  like  ter  put  ye  in  thar,"  replied  Cheever,  who 
had  stolidly  eyed  him  during  this  prelection.  "  I 
wouldn't  hev  that  truck  that  close  ter  a  jestice  o'  the 
peace  fur  nuthin'." 

"An'  I  hev  beam  o'  other  truck  bein'  hid  thar," 
objected  Ben  Tyson,  indignantly.  "  Them  men  ez 
robbed  the  cross-roads  store  up  on  Scolacutta  River 
— thar  plunder  war  fund  thar." 

"  Not  fur  a  long  time ;  'twar  powerful  well  hid," 


COUNTRY.         137 

insisted  Pete  Beckett,  as  if  stating  an  essential  value. 
But  the  other  two  laughed,  and  the  vexed  question 
seemed  hardly  soon  to  be  decided. 

The  waning  moon  in  the  skies  had  swung  now  so 
high  that  her  white  light  lay  upon  the  verge  of  the 
niche  with  a  sharply  drawn  and  jagged  outline — the 
shadow  of  the  roofing  ledge.  Momently  this  belt 
grew  broader,  and  the  glow  of  the  coals  more  dully 
red.  The  two  mountaineers  who  were  deputed  to 
v/atch  while  the  others  slept  beguiled  the  tedium  by 
a  game  with  a  greasy  pack  of  cards,  using  as  a  table 
the  seat  of  a  saddle  laid  between  them  as  they  half 
reclined  on  the  floor,  and  played  less  by  the  light  of 
the  fire  than  the  clear  lustre  streaming  in  at  the  arched 
opening  of  the  grotto.  The  prone  figures  of  the 
others  gave  evidence  in  heavy  breathing  of  their  un 
conscious  slumbers.  All  was  silent  without ;  the 
silver  sheen  made  splendid  the  woods,  although  it 
was  invested  with  some  strange  yearning  melan 
choly,  belonging  only  to  the  moon  on  its  wane.  The 
frogs  had  ceased  their  chanting;  the  katydid  was 
dumb ;  the  earth  seemed  to  sigh  no  more  ;  the  in 
sensate  vegetation  slept.  Once  across  the  white 
space  at  the  verge,  where  fell  on  the  floor  the  sharp 
rugged  shadow  of  the  roof,  there  was  in  the  midst  of 
the  stillness  a  sudden  movement ;  it  came  from  the 
top  of  the  precipice  above.  The  two  gamesters  sat 
as  if  petrified,  the  cards  in  their  hands,  their  burning 
eyes  intent  upon  the  shadow  of  the  summit  of  the 
cliff.  Nothing — a  long  moment  of  suspense.  Noth 
ing  !  And  then  it  came  again ;  the  outline  of  a 
floating  wing — a  swift  similitude  of  the  night-hawk 
sweeping  in  its  noiseless  flight  through  the  air  to 


138      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY. 

seek  its  unwarned  prey.  The  two  men  did  not  so 
much  as  glance  at  one  another  as  they  resumed  their 
game  ;  of  these  thrilling  moments,  charged  with  sus 
pense  and  danger,  their  lives  counted  many. 

So  still  it  was  without  that  it  seemed  to  Yates 
that  he  might  lose  in  sleep  the  consciousness  of 
those  few  momentous  hours  that  had  changed  the 
whole  current  of  his  life.  lie  went  over  them  again 
and  again  in  his  scanty  dreams  with  a  verisimilitude 
of  repetition  that  sufficed  almost  to  prevent  him 
from  discerning  his  waking  thoughts  from  his  slum 
ber.  Now  and  again  as  he  reviewed  them  he  so  real 
ized  to  his  imagination  a  different  ordering  of  their 
sequence,  which  might  have  been  so  readily  effected  at 
the  time  had  he  but  foreseen,  that  he  experienced  al 
most  the  relief  of  escape.  Why  had  he  not  refused 
old  Pettingill's  request  to  ride  seventeen  miles  for 
the  doctor  ?  But,  indeed,  had  he  not  offered  the 
service  from  the  superabundance  of  his  good-nature  ? 
"  I  hope  the  old  man  got  his  horse  again,  like  Chee- 
ver  say,"  he  sighed ;  for  in  the  interim  his  conscience 
had  been  loaded  with  every  ounce  that  the  good  bay 
weighed.  And  then,  again,  without  the  fancy  of 
what  he  might  have  done  and  what  he  wished,  he 
would  recall  the  circumstances  as  they  had  befallen 
him.  Never  had  impressions  been  so  burned  into 
his  consciousness  as  in  those  most  significant  mo 
ments  of  his  life.  He  could  even  now  recollect  the 
glow  of  friendly  feeling  with  which  he  said,  "  I  don't 
b'lieve  but  what  the  yerb  doctor  kin  bring  Len 
Rhodes  through ;  but  ter  pleasure  Mr.  Shattuck  Pll 
ride  fur  the  t'other  doctor,  Mr.  Pettingill — I'll  ride 
fur  him."  He  could  even  feel  ag;ain  his  foot  in  the 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S      COUNTRY.      139 

stirrup,  the  quick,  smooth  gallop  of  the  fresh  horse 
beneath  him.  And  then,  the  winding  lengths  of  the 
sandy  woodland  roads,  so  sweet  with  the  breath  of 
the  azaleas,  all  white  and  star-eyed  in  dark  bosky 
places,  so  fresh  with  the  dew,  so  idealized  by  the 
moon.  And  thinking  no  harm  !  Thinking  of  Ade 
laide,  with  regrets  for  the  harsh  words  between 
them,  with  resolutions  that  they  should  be  the  last. 
Alack !  they  were  likely  to  be  the  last  indeed.  And 
of  Moses — proteanwise !  For  he  could  see  Moses  as 
a  half -grown  lad,  tall  and  strong  and  straight ;  and 
then  as  a  bearded  man ;  sometimes  as  a  justice  of 
the  peace ;  sometimes  the  elastic  paternal  ambition 
pre-empted  for  him  a  seat  in  the  State  Legislature ; 
and  then  the  image  dwindled,  best  of  all,  to  the 
small  limits  of  the  cradle  where  he  slept,  so  pink 
and  white  and  warm,  the  highest  potentate  in  all  the 
land !  Thinking  of  these  things  Yates  was  as  the 
miles  sped  ;  hearing  once  afar,  afar,  a  horn  wound  in 
the  stillness,  and  then  only  his  horse's  hoofs  with 
the  alternate  beat  of  the  gallop. 

He  had  ridden  hard,  since  it  might  be  a  case  of 
life  and  death ;  but  there  was  a  bad  stretch  of  road 
ahead,  a  long  hill  to  climb,  and  the  horse  was  blown. 
It  was  a  saving  of  time,  he  thought,  as  he  slackened 
the  pace  and  went  slowly,  slowly  up  the  rugged  as 
cent.  The  grass  was  thick  on  the  margin  ;  he  drew 
his  horse  to  the  side  where  the  hoofs  might  fall  on 
the  smooth  dank  sward.  He  could  scarcely  hear  his 
saddle  creak.  The  animal  paused  at  the  summit  to 
snatch  a  mouthful  of  cool  wet  sassafras  leaves,  munch 
ing  with  relish,  despite  the  hinderance  of  the  bit. 

Suddenly  a  wild  hoarse  scream  rang  out,  startling 


140      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

the  night ;  a  tumult  of  voices  sounded  ;  a  pistol  shot 
split  the  air,  another ;  and,  as  he  looked  from  the 
summit  of  the  hill  down  the  declivity,  he  saw  a 
group  of  horsemen  in  fierce  altercation  in  the  mid 
dle  of  the  road.  Scant  as  the  moment  was,  so 
bright  was  the  moon  that  he  recognized  more  than 
one  face.  And  the  moment  was  scant,  for  the  cen 
tral  figure,  his  whole  pose  vigorously  resistant,  fired 
again,  wide  of  the  mark,  the  ball  whizzing  by  the  ear 
of  Zack  PettingilFs  bay  horse.  The  animal  uttered 
a  sharp  neigh,  almost  articulate,  wheeled  abruptly, 
and,  heedless  of  either  whip  or  spur,  breaking  into 
an  unmanageable  run,  fled  frantically  homeward. 
Behind  there  were  swifter  hoofs  than  his.  It  was 
hardly  a  moment  before  Cheever's  splendid  horse 
was  alongside  ;  his  burly  strength  re-enforced  Steve 
Yates's  pull  on  the  reins.  Whether,  in  the  confusion 
of  the  moment,  Cheever  and  his  gang  had  mistaken 
the  neighing  of  Pettingill's  horse  and  the  sound  of 
his  hoofs  for  pursuit  and  incontinently  fled,  or 
whether  they  thus  divined  that  they  were  discov 
ered,  Yates  did  not  then  definitely  understand,  nor 
was  it  clearer  to  him  afterward.  Certainly  they 
dreaded  the  escape  of  the  witness  who  beheld  the 
deed,  and  knew  its  perpetrators  by  face  and  name, 
far  more  than  that  of  the  plundered  wayfarer,  who, 
upon  the  diversion  effected  in  his  favor,  made  good 
use  of  his  horse's  hoofs  upon  the  road  that  he  had 
so  lately  travelled.  Beyond  a  pistol  ball  or  two,  one 
of  which  Yates  thought  undoubtedly  took  effect, 
they  did  not  offer  to  pursue  him.  They  rode  along 
side  of  their  protesting  and  unarmed  captive,  and 
discovering  shortly  how  efficacious  was  the  sugges- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         141 

tion  that  he  would  doubtless  be  accused  of  the 
deed,  since  so  many  knew  of  his  errand  at  this  un 
usual  hour  and  on  this  unfrequented  road,  they 
caused  him  to  be  pondering  heavily  upon  the  dreary 
possibilities  of  circumstantial  evidence  before  they 
had  gone  many  miles.  Not  that  he  did  not  offer 
resistance  and  seek  flight.  "  What's  the  use  o' 
swallerin'  this  bullet  whether  or  no,  Steve  ?"  Cheever 
had  demanded,  as  he  presented  a  pistol  to  his  cap 
tive's  mouth.  "  I  don't  want  ye  ter  eat  lead,  an' 
how  would  that  mend  the  matter  fur  you-uns  ?" 
And  when  Yates  sought  to  urge  his  horse  into  a 
gallop,  it  was  but  a  shamble  in  comparison  with  the 
smooth,  swift  gait  of  the  splendid  animal  that  Chee 
ver  bestrode.  He  could  do  naught  at  the  time,  not 
even  by  screams  arouse  a  wayside  habitation,  for 
they  had  soon  plunged  into  unfrequented  forests, 
and  were  far  away  from  the  haunts  of  men. 

That  they  had  not  used  him  more  unkindly  than 
the  interests  of  their  own  safety  necessitated  made 
no  claim  upon  his  gratitude.  Perhaps,  although  he 
had  not  the  courage  to  court  it,  he  would  have  pre 
ferred  death,  lie  only  took  advantage  of  their 
leniency  to  stipulate  that  Pettingill's  horse  should 
be  turned  loose  to  return.  "  He  mought  be  viewed 
'mongst  our'n  some  time.  He's  too  close  a  neigh 
bor  ennyhow,"  said  Cheever,  and  so  he  consented. 
Even  the  trivial  detail  of  the  creature's  bewilder 
ment  was  still  in  the  young  man's  mind — how  the 
horse  persistently  trotted  along  in  the  cavalcade, 
with  his  lustrous  surprised  eyes  and  his  empty  sad 
dle,  his  erstwhile  rider  mounted  behind  one  of  the 
other  men.  More  than  once  after  he  was  driven 


142         IN    THE 

back  he  reappeared  from  behind  a  sharp  curve  of 
the  road,  nimbly  cantering  and  with  an  appealing 
whinny.  Finally  blows  prevailed,  and  from  the 
crest  of  a  ridge  they  afterward  saw  him  ambling 
erratically  homeward  along  the  white  moon-lit  road, 
now  and  again  stopping  by  the  wayside  to  crop  the 
grass  or  bushes. 

"Ef  he  keeps  on  that-a-way  he'll  git  home  next 
week,"  Cheever  had  commented. 

Even  now,  reviewing  the  disaster,  Yates  could  not 
say  definitely  what  he  should  have  done,  but  it 
seemed  that  some  rescue  would  have  waited  upon 
his  effort  had  his  slow  brain  but  devised  it.  More 
than  all,  above  all,  the  sight  of  the  saddle-bags  con 
taining  a  considerable  sum  of  money  taken  from  the 
stranger  had  a  horror  for  him.  He  dwelt  upon  the 
idea  that  among  the  people  of  the  cove  he  must  be 
believed  to  have  committed  the  crime,  until  he  had 
a  morbid  sense  of  complicity.  His  mind  was,  as  he 
knew,  but  a  poor  tool  for  scheming,  but  he  was  im 
peratively,  urgently  moved  by  some  inward  power  to 
make  an  effort  which  might  result  in  the  restoration 
of  the  money  to  its  proper  owner.  He  began  to  feel 
that  integrity  is  not  a  repute ;  it  is  an  attribute  of 
the  mind  and  a  spontaneous  emotion  of  the  heart. 
"  'Tain't  ter  hev  folks  say  ye're  honest ;  it  air  ter  be 
honest." 

He  felt  himself  forever  blasted ;  he  doubted  if,  in 
any  event,  he  would  ever  dare  to  return  to  his  home. 
He  had  known  of  men  with  far  less  evidence  against 
them  than  these  perverse  lies,  that  masqueraded  as 
facts  in  his  case,  strung  up  to  a  tree  without  judge 
or  jury.  He  would  do  himself,  his  wife,  his  child 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      143 

scant  favor  in  courting  that  ignoble  doom.  He  only 
revolved  the  robbery  for  the  sake  of  honesty  alone, 
that  he  might  devise  some  scheme  to  frustrate  the 
highwaymen  and  restore  the  money. 

Somehow,  as  he  lay  looking  out  at  the  gibbous 
moon,  visible  now,  all  distorted  and  weird  in  the  pur 
ple  sky,  and  no  less  lustrously  yellow  because  of  the 
sense  of  dawn  gradually  stealing  upon  the  air,  he 
could  not  disassociate  Shattuck  from  his  train  of 
ideas  despite  the  lack  of  logical  connection.  It  was 
perhaps,  he  thought  dully  in  recognizing  the  fact, 
because  it  was  upon  Shattuck's  errand  that  he  had 
gone  to  this  dreadful  fate ;  perhaps  because  the 
mention  of  a  box-like  tombstone  had  suggested  to 
him  the  strange  underground  sarcophagi,  also  box- 
like  and  of  stone,  of  the  pygmy  burying-ground  in 
which  Shattuck  was  interested.  And  suddenly  he 
caught  his  breath  and  lay  still,  thinking,  a  long  time. 

So  languid  -  footed  was  the  night,  but  he  smelt 
the  rose  in  its  morning  blossoming !  A  mocking 
bird  sang,  all  faint  and  sweet  and  fresh,  and  dreamed 
again.  Stars  were  fading;  the  great  valley  of  East 
Tennessee  was  beginning  to  be  outlined,  with  ridges 
and  smaller  valleys  and  rivers  and  further  mountains, 
with  a  sense  of  space  and  of  large  symmetry  that 
outdoes  the  imagination.  And  still  the  moon  shone 
in  his  face. 

"  Buck,"  he  said,  suddenly,  for  all  the  others  slept, 
and  it  was  Cheever's  turn  to  watch,  "  did  you-uns  ever 
hear  tell  o'  the  Leetle  Stranger  People?" 

Cheever,  smoking  his  pipe  near  at  hand,  as  he  lay 
on  the  floor,  lifted  himself  upon  one  elbow.  He 
nodded.  "  Many  a  time." 


144      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

"  Folks  'low  they  useter  hev  this  kentry.  They 
seem  sorter  small  ter  hev  ter  die." 

"  I  dun'no'  but  what  they  do,"  said  Cheever,  im 
pressed  by  the  hardship  of  the  common  fate  which 
overtook  even  such  "  leetle  people."  "  An'  folks 
hev  fairly  furgot  they  ever  lived,  too." 

Yates  nodded  his  head. 

"  I  dun'no'  ez  I  hev  hcarn  the  Leetle  People 
named  fur  thirty  year  an'  better.  My  gran'mam 
tole  me  'bout  'em  whenst  I  war  a  boy.  What  ailed 
you-uns  ter  git  a-goin'  'bout  'em  ?" 

"  Jes'  thinkin'  'bout  home.  Thar  buryin'-groun' 
ain't  more'n  haffen  mile  from  my  house,"  replied 
Yates,  casually.  "  Ye  hev  hearn  tell  how  they  coffins 
the  dead  in  stone  boxes,  two  feet  undergroun',  an'  I 
reckon  that  fool  talk  'bout  Mis'  Beamen's  tombstone 
bein'  like  a  stone  box  reminded  me  of  'em." 

Cheever  held  his  pipe  in  his  hand.  The  coal  had 
dwindled  to  an  ash  as  he  listened.  A  thought  was 
astir  in  his  crafty  brain.  Dull  at  scheming  as  Yates 
was,  he  could  almost  divine  its  processes. 

"  I  dun'no'  when  I  hev  hearn  the  Leetle  People 
named  afore,"  Cheever  said,  meditatively. 

"  The  old  folks  used  ter  talk  'bout  'cm  sometimes," 
rejoined  Steve,  apparently  inadvertently,  "  though  few 
knows  now  they  ever  lived,  nor  whar  they  lie.  One 
grave  air  right  on  the  south  side  o'  that  tliar  laurel 
bush — the  only  laurel  on  the  slope ;  I  know,  fur  the 
ground  sounds  hollow  thar ;  I  sounded  it  one  day." 

He  cast  a  covert  glance  at  Cheever.  The  robber's 
eyes,  opened  widely  for  once,  were  full  of  light  as 
they  glanced  swiftly  and  searchingly  at  the  sleeping 
men,  all  unconscious,  about  them.  Then  he  said,  in 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        145 

a  casual  tone,  "  I  reckon  thar's  a  heap  o'  lie  in  all 
that  thar  talk  'bout  the  Leetle  People."  And  his 
earnest,  intent,  breathless  face  belied  his  words  as  he 
spoke  them. 

Yates  sank  back  upon  the  improvised  pillow  of 
saddle  and  blanket,  breathing  quick,  feeling  alive 
once  more.  He  had  relied  on  Cheever's  ignorance 
of  Shattuck's  intention — known,  indeed,  to  few,  and 
infinitely  unimportant  in  their  estimation — since  the 
horse-thief's  protective  seclusion  debarred  him  from 
much  gossip.  To  this  spot  beneath  the  laurel  Yates 
himself  had  directed  Shattuck's  attention.  Now  if 
the  treasure  should  be  concealed  there,  and  Shat 
tuck's  enthusiasm  should  not  fail,  the  discovery 
would  be  made  and  noised  abroad,  and  some  right 
at  last  would  blossom  out  of  all  this  wrong. 
10 


VII. 

THE  "  falling  weather  "  came  hard  upon  its  proph 
ecy.  All  that  day  the  clouds  mustered.  P'ilms, 
lace-like  and  fretting  the  roseate  heavens,  thickened 
as  the  light  gradually  dawned,  and  were  dense  before 
the  sun  rose — dense,  but  white  and  semi-translucent, 
and  a  certain  focus  of  opaque  glister,  slowly  mount 
ing  and  mounting  the  sky,  gave  token  how  the  great 
chariot  of  the  sun  fared  along  the  celestial  highways 
to  the  zenith.  No  fierce  monitions  in  this  noiseless 
eclipse  of  the  diurnal  splendors  of  the  rich  summer- 
tide  ;  the  landscape  lay  in  a  lethargic  shadow,  and 
time  seemed  to  wait  somewhere  and  to  drowse  dully, 
so  long  the  hours  loitered,  so  little  did  they  change  ; 
the  leaves  hung  still ;  a  breathless,  sultry  pause  bated 
the  pulses  of  the  world.  In  the  afternoon — one  who 
judged  of  time  by  the  sun  might  hardly  know  were 
it  the  impending  cloud  or  the  approach  of  night — 
this  long  monotony  of  the  atmosphere  was  broken  by 
a  gradual  darkening,  and  presently  an  almost  imper 
ceptible  rain  was  gently  falling.  The  air  was  dank, 
the  lungs  expanded  to  longer  and  longer  respirations, 
and  the  clouds  were  coming  down  the  mountain-side 
— coming  in  fleecy  ranks  along  the  dark  purple  inden 
tations  which  marked  the  ravines,  the  vanguard  with 
broken  flakes  that  suggested  woolly  leaders  of  flocks. 

"  Look  yander  at  the  sheep,  Moses,"  Letitia  ad- 


147 

jurcd  the  infant  as  lie  sat  on  the  floor  of  the  porch 
— "  look  yander  at  the  flocks  o'  the  old  man  ez  herds 
the  clouds  on  the  bald  o'  the  mounting." 

Moses  stared  with  inconceivable  impressions  at  the 
fictitious  sheep,  and  more  than  once  looked  up  with 
a  contemplative  eye  and  a  sensitive  lip  at  Letitia  to 
hear  again  of  the  fabled  herder  whose  flocks  wore 
this  tenuous  guise.  How  much  he  believed,  how 
much  he  understood,  must  ever  remain  a  matter  of 
conjecture.  He  hearkened  to  all  that  was  told  to 
him  which  trenched  upon  the  wonderful  lore  of  the 
nursery,  but  maintained  the  while  the  inscrutable, 
impenetrable  reticence  of  the  infant  who  can  but 
who  will  not  talk.  And  now  all  similitude  of  flocks 
was  lost  in  a  sudden  precipitation  of  the  cloud 
masses  toward  the  valley.  Gullies,  abysses,  the  river, 
every  depression  seemed  to  exude  vapors,  that  hung 
suspended  in  the  air,  till  they  were  met  by  the  down 
ward  rush.  All  at  once  a  louder  patter  was  on  the 
little  slanting  roof  of  the  porch,  and  upon  its  floor 
the  drops,  glittering  in  their  elastic  rebound,  multi 
plied  till  Letitia,  catching  Moses  under  the  arms,  bore 
him  within,  his  feet  sticking  straight  out,  conserving 
his  sitting  posture,  and  placed  him  on  the  broad 
hearth  before  the  fire.  And  at  last — whether  the 
night  or  only  its  dull  simulacrum — darkness  de 
scended.  Letitia,  looking  forth  from  the  open  door, 
could  see  the  pale  shifting  mists  rather  by  the  glow 
from  the  hearth  than  by  the  aid  of  such  gray  and 
sombre  twilight  as  might  linger  without.  The  rain 
fell  invisibly  in  the  midst  of  the  vapors ;  only  the 
detached  drops  that  pattered  upon  the  edge  of  the 
floor  of  the  porch  gave  out  a  steely  gleam  as  they 


148        IN    THE 

smartly  rebounded  and  fell  again.  The  room  was  all 
the  cheerier  for  the  dull  and  dank  aspect  of  the  world 
outside.  The  spinning-wheel  drawn  up  to  one  corner 
of  the  hearth  promised  an  evening  full  of  quiet  in 
dustry  and  a  musical  whirring  pleasant  to  hear.  The 
warping  bars,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  brown  wall, 
were  full  of  color,  much  red  predominating  in  many 
shades,  for  Moses  had  early  seemed  to  notice  the 
rich,  brilliant  tint,  and  it  had  won  his  rare  approval. 
Indeed,  so  much  Turkey  red  went  into  the  fashioning 
of  his  garments  that  the  hanks  of  yarn  and  cotton  de 
signed  for  them  and  hanging  from  the  ceiling  served 
to  brighten  the  room,  as  if  a  bizarre  decorative  effect 
had  been  intentionally  sought.  The  fire  blazed  mer 
rily,  and  the  light  flashed  back  from  the  barrel  of  the 
rifle  that  rested  on  its  rack  of  deer  antlers  against 
the  chimney. 

Letitia,  in  her  faint-blue  dress,  moved  deftly  about, 
giving  a  touch  here  and  there  to  set  things  in  their 
eventide  order,  murmuring  as  she  went  a  little  song, 
scarcely  a  tune — more  like  the  fragmentary  melodies 
that  the  mountain  brooks  sing  on  their  way  to  the 
valley.  "  A  cur'ous  sort'n  psalmin'  what  she  makes 
up  out'n  her  own  head,"  her  mother  used  to  say, 
with  that  rural  distrust  of  all  out  of  the  usual  experi 
ence.  An  ash  cake  was  baking  under  the  clean  silver- 
gray  mounds  at  one  side  of  the  great  fire,  which  was 
too  large  for  comfort — for  the  air  was  not  chilly,  al 
beit  both  doors  and  windows  stood  open — and  too  hot 
even  for  its  purpose  of  cooking  supper,  for  now  and 
again  the  eggs,  also  roasting  under  the  ashes,  gave 
token  by  a  sharp  crack  that  one  had  succumbed  un 
duly  to  the  heat,  had  burst  and  spilled  its  yolk.  On 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES"  COUNTRY.      149 

each  occasion  Moses,  sitting  after  his  lowly  habit  on 
the  floor  before  the  fire,  gave  a  nervous  little  jerk, 
and  looked  with  a  certain  anxiety  at  his  mother, 
aware  that  all  was  not  well  in  the  domestic  adminis 
tration.  Adelaide,  kneeling  by  the  hearth,  frowned 
almost  mechanically,  and  -forgot  the  mishap  the  next 
moment.  Presently  she  looked  up  at  the  grayish 
blackness  that  filled  the  door  and  window. 

"  I  dun'no'  whether  it  air  night  or  no,"  she  said,  the 
red  live  coals  that  she  had  raked  out  upon  the  hearth 
casting  a  dull  reflection  upon  her  oval  face  and  large 
dark  eyes.  "  I  mought  be  too  forehanded  a-gittin' 
supper  fur  aught  I  kin  tell." 

"Ye'll  find  out  whenst  it  air  supper-time  by  the 
comin'  o'  Baker  Anderson,"  remarked  Letitia.  "  That 
boy  air  wound  up  ter  the  very  minute.  His  folks 
never  kin  need  a  clock  ter  find  out  what's  meal-times, 
nor  ter  look  at  the  sun.  Mus'  be  a  great  comfort  ter 
ennybody  ter  hev  sech  a  punctual  stommick  in  the 
house.  My  mother  would  dote  on  feedin'  him." 

And,  sure  enough,  presently  here  was  Baker,  a  great 
thumping  boy  of  sixteen,  with  a  man's  frame  and  a 
callow,  square,  beardless,  sheepish  face,  as  conscious 
of  his  feet  as  if  he  were  a  centipede,  as  conscious  of 
his  big  hands  as  if  he  had  a  hundred.  All  the  grace 
and  the  strength  of  his  muscles  deserted  him  at  the 
door,  where  he  hesitated  as  if  he  doubted  how  he 
should  before  all  these  spectators  ever  reach  the  chair 
by  the  fireside  which  he  usually  occupied.  Then  he 
made  a  tremulous  rush,  deposited  himself  sidelong 
upon  it,  and,  looking  up  from  under  his  straight  eye 
brows,  said,  with  a  gasp,  "  G'evenin',  Mis'  Yates." 

He  did  not  dare  to  address  Letitia,  so  conscious 


150        IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

was  he  of  her  latent  mockery,  and  of  her  knowledge 
of  the  criticism  upon  the  household  which  he  had 
made  in  his  innocent  confidences  to  his  aunt,  who 
had  ruthlessly  repeated  it  to  the  parties  in  interest : 
he  had  said  that  he  had  no  objection  to  Mis'  Yates, 
but  that  Letitia  eyed  him  ez  ef  she  could  sca'cely 
keep  from  laffin'  at  him,  an'  Moses  eyed  him  ez  if  he 
could  sca'cely  keep  from  smackin'  his  jaws  ;  an'  'twixt 
'em  both  he  hardly  knew  whether  he  stood  on  his  head 
or  his  heels  ;  an'  ef  'twarn't  fur  Mis'  Yates,  he  an' 
his  rifle  would  make  tharselves  sca'ce  at  Steve  Yates's 
cabin. 

To  the  manners  of  Moses,  indeed,  one  far  less  sen 
sitive  than  the  guest  might  readily  have  taken  excep 
tions.  From  time  to  time  he  angrily  surveyed  Baker, 
knitting  his  scanty  brows,  and  always  crooking  his 
fat  dimpled  arm  above  his  forehead  whenever  he  re 
newed  his  gaze ;  and  although  this  gesture  is  not 
among  the  generally  accepted  expressions  of  con 
tumely,  it  had  especial  capacities  to  convey  a  flout. 
Poor  Baker  had  expected  gambols  with  the  infant  to 
be  a  means  of  lessening  the  awkwardness  of  his  self- 
consciousness,  and  to  put  him  on  a  more  easy  basis 
with  the  household.  Mrs.  Yates  often  felt  herself 
obliged  to  apologize  for  the  unfriendly  conduct  of 
Moses,  and  even  to  expostulate  with  the  great  Dagon, 
and  beg  him  to  mitigate  his  severity.  He  seemed 
instigated  to  this  course  in  some  sort  by  the  malice 
of  an  old  dog,  brindled  a  bluish-gray  and  white,  who 
had  adopted  a  senile  vagary  that  the  visitor  harbored 
wicked  intentions  against  the  household  hero,  which 
he  evidently  felt  delegated  to  frustrate.  He  always 
came,  upon  the  boy's  entrance,  and  placed  himself 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      151 

between  the  guest  and  the  precious  "  leetle  Mose," 
who  found  the  animal's  side,  cushioned  with  fat,  a 
sufficiently  soft  and  comfortable  pillow,  and  was  wont 
to  lean  upon  it,  resting  his  downy  head  and  fine 
pink  cheek  on  the  dark  tigerish  hair  of  the  thick  neck 
— the  formidable  fangs  of  the  brute's  half-open  mouth, 
the  fiery  eye  and  rising  bristles,  bearing  fierce  con 
trast  to  the  delicate  infantile  curves  and  coloring  of 
the  child's  face.  Here  nightly,  until  Baker  Ander 
son  was  led  off  to  his  slumbers  in  the  roof-room,  the 
dog  sat  immovable,  now  and  then  emitting  a  growl  if 
he  so  much  as  glanced  at  Moses.  Mrs.  Yates  could 
only  redouble  her  suavity  to  the  household  defender, 
and  add  some  soothing  dainty  to  the  supper.  "  I 
made  this  johnny-cake  express  fur  you-uns.  Baker," 
she  would  say.  And  when  he  could  no  longer  be 
fed,  she  exerted  herself  to  entertain  him  in  the  brief 
interval  before  the  young  fellowr  tired  out  with  the 
day's  ploughing  or  hunting,  would  succumb  to  the 
heat  and  the  stillness,  and  nod  before  the  fire.  Doubt 
less  this  talk  was  a  salutary  necessity  for  Adelaide, 
for  the  days  were  full  of  tears,  and  the  nights  of  sighs 
and  wakeful  hours,  and  dreams  of  vague  unhappiness 
and  discordant,  half-realized  terrors.  Letitia's  smil 
ing  assurance,  u  How  ye  an'  Steve  air  a-goin'  ter  laff 
an'  laff  over  this  some  o'  these  days !"  she  could  not 
accept,  although  it  was  grateful  to  hear,  and  she 
would  still  her  sobs  to  listen  to  its  iteration.  But 
poor  Baker,  when  awake,  called  for  all  her  sympathy 
and  countenance,  thus  helpless  amongst  his  enemies, 
and  so  sorrow  must  needs  be  forgotten  for  a  time. 

They  all  sat  thus  this  evening,  the  supper  cleared 
away,  the  hearth  swept,  one  of  Moses's  red  stockings 


152      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY. 

for  winter  wear  growing  under  the  needles  in  Ad 
elaide's  hand,  the  little  flax  spinning-wheel  awhirl 
as  Letitia  drew  out  the  long  thread,  the  baby  half 
drowsing  on  the  fierce  old  dog's  neck,  the  doors  all 
aflare,  when  a  sudden  chill  wind  sprang  up.  They 
heard  it  rising  far,  far  away — a  deep,  hollow  murmur, 
all  unlike  the  throbbing  of  the  cataract,  which  was 
ceaseless  in  the  darkness,  beating  like  the  heart  of 
the  night ;  it  came  stealthily  down  through  the  gap 
in  the  mountain,  and  the  trees,  hitherto  silent  and 
motionless  above  the  little  house,  suddenly  fell  to 
trembling  and  clashed  their  boughs,  and  long-drawn 
sibilant  sighs  pervaded  all  their  rustling  foliage. 

"  Listen !"  Letitia  said,  her  foot  pausing  on  the 
treadle,  as  she  turned  her  brilliant  azure  eyes  to  the 
night,  all  black  without.  "  Thar's  the  last  o'  the  rain 
and  the  fog." 

The  drops  were  redoubled  on  the  roof,  but  pres 
ently  they  grew  fewer,  discursive,  and  now  sounded 
only  the  fitful  patter  of  those  shed  by  the  foliage 
where  they  had  lodged. 

A  more  turbulent  gust  banged  the  batten  shutters 
and  shook  the  door,  then  went  screaming,  screaming 
through  the  black  night,  with  a  voice  so  dolorous 
and  wild  that  more  than  once  Adelaide  put  down 
her  knitting,  and  looked  up  with  a  face  pallid  and 
agitated,  as  if  she  realized  in  the  sound  the  utter 
ance  of  the  dreary  grief  that  rent  her  heart. 

"  Shet  the  door  an*  bar  it  up,  Baker,"  observed 
Letitia.  "  Ye  air  younger'n  me  " — with  a  mimicry 
of  age — "  or  I'd  wait  on  you-uns." 

The  boy's  manner  of  shuffling  to  the  door  and 
window  and  securing  them  kindled  a  smile  in  her 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      153 

eyes.  He  could  not  encounter  them  when  he  was 
once  more  ensconced  in  the  corner,  so  he  chanced 
to  glance  at  the  old  dog,  which  instantly  growled, 
and  then  he  was  fain  to  stare  sedulously  into  the 
fire.  "  I  wouldn't  be  s'prised  none  ef  the  coals  war 
ter  hop  up  an'  scorch  me,"  he  said  bitterly  to  him 
self,  for  the  inner  man,  or  boy,  was  by  no  means  the 
submissive,  humble  entity  which  the  outward  shy, 
awkward  cloddishness  might  intimate.  The  gusts 
had  sprung  after  him  upon  the  door,  and  shook  it  as 
if  a  hundred  beasts  had  lain  in  ambush  there,  baffled 
by  his  forethought. 

"  Oh !"  cried  Adelaide,  all  her  distraught  nerves 
a-jarring.  "  What  do  that  sound  like  ?" 

"  Like  the  wind,"  said  Letitia,  bending  her  smil 
ing  face  to  the  spinning-wheel,  "  the  wind  ez  air 
stoppin'  the  rain,  an'  the  corn  crap  '11  be  short. 
Don't  ye  see  Baker  thar  drappin'  a  tear,  like  a  good 
farmer,  'count  o'  the  drought  that  this  leetle  rain 
don't  break  ?" 

Baker  turned  scarlet  and  shuffled  his  big  feet  and 
moistened  his  lips  with  his  tongue,  his  traduced  dry 
eyes,  hot  and  angry,  staring  steadily  at  the  fire. 

"  One  tear,  Baker,  shed  fur  sins  mought  go  fur 
ther  than  that  leetle  tear  o'  yourn  will  go  with  the 
country's  corn  crap." 

Letitia  spoke  solemnly,  and  looked  with  affected 
gravity  at  the  boy,  who  was  so  lugubrious  under  her 
teasing  that  she  could  not  resist,  and  burst  into  a 
peal  of  laughter.  His  lips  mechanically  distended, 
exhibiting  two  great  unbroken  arches  of  strong 
teeth. 

"  Don't,  don't  show  all  them  teeth  ter  Moses,  Bak- 


154        IN    THE 

er,"  she  adjured  him,  in  pretended  alarm.  "  Think 
how  bent  on  gittin'  teeth  he  be  now,  an'  ef  he  war 
ter  set  his  heart  on  havin'  yourn  too,  how  lonesome 
ye'd  be  'thout  'em  at  meal-times  !" 

Moses,  hearing  his  name,  roused  himself  with  an 
effort,  looking  over  his  shoulder  frowningly,  with  a 
shrill  little  ill-tempered  squeal,  for  he  did  not  per 
mit  her  to  speak  of  him,  and  rarely  to  address  him. 

"  Oh,  oh,  listen  to  the  wind  !"  cried  Adelaide,  un 
heeding  them  all.  "  It  sounds  like  the  voice  o'  suth- 
in'  that  can't  rest  in  its  grave." 

"Waal,"  said  Litt,  sturdily,  "I  ain't  'quainted 
with  that  kind  o'  harnts  myself,  ez  'ain't  got  no  bet 
ter  manners  'n  ter  go  screechin'  like  the  bad  boys  in 
the  cove  artcr  a  day  at  the  still — 'thout  the  excuse 
o'  bein'  in  liquor,  too.  We'd  better  make  mo'  stir 
ourselves,  then  we  can't  hear  'em.  Baker,  mebbe 
ye  mought  gin  us  a  song- — "  she  bent  a  beguiling 
smile  upon  him — he,  who  could  not  even  talk,  to  be 
asked  to  sing  !  "  I  hev  got  a  notion  ez  you-uns  be  a 
plumb  sweet  singer." 

Her  air  of  coquetry  and  the  implied  compliment 
were  of  that  phase  of  her  manners  far  more  formi 
dable  to  the  callow  youth  than  even  her  open  ridicule. 
He  could  have  sunk  through  the  floor.  He  knew, 
however,  that  his  blushes,  his  abashed  and  down 
cast  eyes,  were  delightful  to  her.  The  indignation 
and  resentment  kindled  by  this  reflection  roused 
that  more  stalwart  personality  of  self-respect  within 
him,  and  gave  him  courage  to  mumble,  a  trifle  surli 
ly,  that  she  had  better  sing  a  song  herself  if  she 
hankered  for  singing.  To  this  she  replied,  with  a 
sudden  swift  transition  to  patently  mocking  glee : 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY.      155 

"  I  think  so  myself,  Baker,  I  do  think  so  ;  but  I 
didn't  s'pose  ye  war  so  smart  ez  ter  know  it  too." 

And  then,  with  the  accompaniment  of  the  musical 
whir  of  her  wheel,  and  the  sibilant  fugue  of  the 
wind  in  the  trees,  and  the  blare  of  the  fluctuating 
flames  in  the  chimney,  she  began  to  sing  in  a  voice 
low  and  sweet ;  and  while  she  sang  a  strange  thing 
happened. 

As  she  drew  the  thread  along,  holding  the  end 
out  in  her  hand  with  a  graceful  sweep  of  her  arm, 
her  blue  eyes  full  of  pensive  lights,  her  lips  parted, 
her  tiny  foot  marking  time  on  the  treadle,  she  noted 
that  one  of  the  batten  shutters,  which  had  so  regu 
larly  beaten  in  the  blast  against  the  window-frame, 
as  the  other  did  even  now,  had  grown  steady.  All 
at  once  the  fire-light  leaped  up  with  a  keen  glitter, 
and  at  the  long  narrow  crevice  between  the  shutter  and 
the  window  she  saw  a  face  peering  in  so  stealthily,  a 
face  so  long  and  white  and  unrecognizable — seeming 
hardly  human  in  the  narrow  section  which  the  rift 
showed — that  a  sudden  terror  smote  her  heart,  the 
words  of  the  song  rose  to  a  scream,  and,  the  wheel 
still  whirling,  the  thread  in  her  hand,  she  pointed  to 
the  window,  exclaiming  :  "  The  face  !  the  face  !  I'm 
feared  o'  the  face  !" 

Adelaide  had  sprung  wide-eyed  and  pale  to  her 
feet ;  the  dog,  vaguely  apprehending  the  commotion, 
was  fiercely  growling.  The  clumsy  boy  had  risen, 
overturning  the  chair  with  the  motion,  and  at  that 
instant  the  shutter  slammed  freely  back  and  forth 
against  the  window-frame  at  the  whim  of  the  way 
ward  gusts,  and  naught  was  there  when  the  rifle 
was  thrust  to  the  crevice. 


156         IN    THE 

"Let  him  look  down  the  muzzle  o'  that  now," 
cried  Baker  Anderson,  "  ef  he's  so  fond  o'  peekin' !" 

"  Don't  shoot,  Baker  ;  don't  shoot !"  exclaimed 
Adelaide,  her  face  still  drawn  and  white.  "  I  reckon 
Litt  didn't  see  nuthin',  nohow." 

"  My  eyesight  bein'  sorter  poorly,  through  agin' 
so  much  lately,"  the  girl  said,  in  her  characteristic 
tone  ;  but  her  own  face  was  pallid,  and  as  she  leaned 
back  in  the  chair  she  panted  heavily. 

"Don't  fool  me,  Litt,"  the  other  adjured  her,  with 
heart-break  in  her  voice.  "  War  it  Steve  ?" 

"I  never  admired  Steve,"  Litt  gasped,  "but  I 
never  thunk  he  war  ugly  enough  ter  be  tarrified  at 
the  sight  o'  him." 

Moses,  who  had  turned  his  head  upward,  and 
looked  bewildered  from  one  to  the  other,  now  burst 
into  a  piteous  wail  with  tears  and  sobs,  imagining, 
from  the  excited  talk,  that  an  altercation  was  in  prog 
ress,  for,  singularly  enough  for  one  of  his  stern  and 
belligerent  character,  he  deprecated  a  quarrel,  and 
resented  all  interchange  of  loud  words.  His  mother 
knelt  by  him  to  pat  him  on  the  back ;  the  old  dog 
licked  his  bare  pink  foot.  Letitia  still  leaned  back 
in  the  chair,  her  frightened  face  all  at  variance  with 
her  usual  gay  bravado. 

"  Who  did  it  look  like,  Litt?"  demanded  Adelaide, 
not  lifting  her  voice,  and  the  peace-loving  Moses, 
tolerating  no  quarrel  that  was  not  of  his  own  mak 
ing,  turned  his  face,  where  the  tears  still  lodged  on 
the  curves  and  in  the  dimples,  to  supervise  the  pa 
cific  answer. 

"Like  nuthin'  I  ever  sec  afore;  like  nuthin'  liv- 
in',"  Litt  barely  whispered. 


COUNTRY.        157 

Adelaide's  face  blanched  even  in  the  red  fire 
light.  The  hand  that  patted  Moses  trembled  as  she 
knelt  beside  him. 

Baker  Anderson's  blood  was  merely  slightly 
stirred.  The  bluff  courage  with  which  he  was  en 
dowed — no  less  sturdy  because  callow — enabled  him 
to  regard  the  odd  incident  as  a  welcome  and  ex 
citing  break  in  the  monotony.  He  had  considered 
his  stay  here  with  his  rifle  as  rather  the  result  of  a 
senile  whim  on  the  part  of  his  uncle  than  because 
any  danger  might  menace  the  deserted  Yates  house 
hold.  He  was  glad  to  have  his  presence  and  that  of 
his  weapon  justified  by  some  simulacrum  of  fear  and 
trouble.  Litt  fancied  that  she  detected  in  his  man 
ner  a  relish  of  her  terrors.  At  all  events,  he  evident 
ly  suddenly  thought  well  enough  of  himself  to  vent 
ure  an  observation . 

"  Ye  needn't  be  'sturbed  none,  Mis'  Yates. 
'Twarn't  nobody,  mebbe.  Ef  ye'd  like  fur  me,  I'd 
take  my  rifle  an'  sorter  tramp  round  the  yard  a 
leetle  an'  look  out." 

"  No,  no ;  bide  whar  ye  air,"  cried  Mrs.  Yates. 
"  Litt  say,"  she  faltered,  "  it  moughtn't — be — alive," 
her  voice  quavered  to  silence. 

"  Oh,  thar  ain't  nobody  buried  close  enough  round 
hyar  ter  git  ter  'sturbin'  we-uns,  Mis'  Yates,"  Baker 
reassured  her  with  a  capable  swagger. 

So  fully  had  his  sense  of  superiority  been  restored 
by  the  demonstration  of  the  imperviousness  of  his 
courage  that  it  seemed  impossible  that  he  should 
ever  have  quaked  before  that  small  bully  in  blue, 
even  with  her  beautiful  and  bewildering  eyes  and 
her  smiling  lips  and  the  keen  whetted  edge  of  her 


158      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

ridicule  ;  he  glanced  hardily  at  her  as  she  still  leaned 
back  in  her  chair,  limp  and  prostrated  by  the  fright, 
the  overturned  spinning-wheel  at  her  feet.  Oh,  it 
was  a  great  thing  to  be  a  man — or  a  boy  who  thought 
himself  a  man — even  burdened  with  a  pair  of  big 
clumsy  feet,  and  several  superfluous  hands,  and  a 
tongue  tied  in  the  presence  of  small  bright-eyed  bul 
lies  in  blue  !  He  was  emboldened  to  evolve  a  theory 
of  his  own  concerning  the  conduct  of  ghosts,  which 
was  doubtless  as  worthy  of  respect  as  any  such 
theories  ever  are. 

"  Harnts  don't  wander  much  ginerally,"  he  said. 
"  They  hang  round  thar  own  buryin'-groun'  mainly. 
Ye  kin  see  'em  of  a  moonlight  night,  they  say,  a-set- 
tin'  on  thar  graves,  an'  lookin'  through  the  palin's  o' 
the  church-house  yard — though  I  'ain't  viewed  none, 
myse1/.  An'  sometimes  whenst  fraish-buried  they 
walk  in  thar  kin-folkses'  house." 

"  Oh,  Baker !"  interpolated  Mrs.  Yates. 

"But  ye  ain't  got  no  fraish-buried  kin,  Mis' 
Yates,"  Baker  hastened  to  stipulate.  "  Steve  air 
alive  an'  hearty,  else  ye'd  hev  hearn  'bout  him,  bad 
news  bein'  a  fast  rider.  An'  thar  ain't  no  graves  in 
the  neighborhood,  an'  so  thar  ain't  no  harnts  o' 
course." 

"  He  hev  tuk  a  census  o'  sperits  lately,"  cried 
Letitia,  with  a  tremulous  laugh. 

"Thar  air  the  Leetle  People's  buryin'-groun'  nigh 
hyar,"  faltered  Adelaide. 

But  Baker  Anderson  had  never  heard  of  the 
"  Leetle  People."  He  looked  mystified,  and  a  trifle 
startled,  despite  the  resources  of  his  courage ;  and, 
after  she  explained,  he  presently  spoke  with  an  in- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.   159 

sistent  desire,  most  plainly  to  be  observed,  to  ex 
clude  the  Little  People  from  the  possibilities. 

"  Mos'  likely  it  air  jes'  some  lazy  loon  a-goin' 
home  from  the  still  or  suthin',  an'  hearin'  the  sing- 
in',  stopped  to  listen.  Ez  ter  the  Leetle  People" — 
his  voice  drawled  the  words  lingeringly,  his  eyes 
•dwelt  meditatingly  on  the  fire,  he  was  evidently  fall 
ing  under  a  morbid  mysterious  fascination  —  "I 
reckon  ez  they  hcv  been  lef  be  all  these  years  meb- 
be  they  won't  git  a-goin'  at  this  late  day." 

The  wind  came  and  went  in  mighty  surges ;  the 
trees  groaned.  Amongst  it  all  one  could  hear  the 
melancholy  roar  of  the  falls,  and  now  and  again  a 
gust  with  a  stealthy  touch  tried  the  door  'or  the 
shutter,  and  went  skurrying  around  the  house  with 
a  rustle  of  the  grass  and  the  bushes  to  simulate  a 
human  flight. 

"I  wonder,"  said  Letitia,  suddenly — she  had  lift 
ed  the  spinning-wheel,  had  placed  it  before  her,  and 
was  bending  her  face  above  it,  still  white  from  the 
nervous  shock,  as  she  righted  the  confusion  of  the 
tangled  thread  —  "I  wonder,  Adelaide,  cf  ye  ever 
hearn  that  thar  Mr.  Shattuck  talkin'  much  'bout 
them  Stranger  People  ?" 

"  No — but  I  hev  hearn  Stephen  tell  'bout'n  it,  an' 
how  he  wants  thar  pearls  on  thar  necks  an'  thar 
leetle  jugs  an'  dishes,  ez  they  thunk  enough  of  ter 
hev  buried  with  'em, 'lowin'  they'd  be  thar  at  the  las' 
day." 

She  paused  in  surprise.  Letitia's  pale  face  had 
turned  a  vivid  scarlet. 

"  Adelaide  !"  she  cried.  "  Do  ye  actially  b'lievc 
that?  Ye  'pear  plumb  bereft,  an'  ye  talk  like  a 


160      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S 

fool.  He  ain't  wantin'  thar  pearls  an'  sech.  They 
'ain't  got  none  vvuth  hevin' !" 

"  Why  don't  he  let  'em  stay  in  thar  peaceful 
graves,  then,  till  the  light  shines  in  the  east?"  retort 
ed  the  other,  with  spirit. 

"  I  axed  him  'bout'n  it,"  Letitia  went  on  ;  "  he  say 
he  wants  tcr  know  ef  they  air  small  people  sure 
enough,  or  whether  they  air  jes'  common  Injun 
chil'n  ;  he  'lows  he  kin  tell  suthin'  o'  what  nation 
they  war  by  thar  skulls  an'  jugs  an'  ornamints." 
She  paused,  her  eyes  bright  with  a  sort  of  bewilder 
ed  surprise.  How  she  had  remembered  this  strange 
talk  of  his  !  How  she  had  laid  it  to  heart ! 

"  Mr.  Shattuck  told  about  one  man,"  she  resumed, 
"that  seen  the  skeletons  of  some  Tennessee  pyg 
mies,  an'  he  writ  in  a  book  ez  they  war  all  grown 
up,  but  leetle,  leetle  folks,  with  thar  teeth  all  separate 
an'  sharp  at  the  p'ints,  like  a  dog's  or  a  wolf's  fangs." 

Adelaide  uttered  an  exclamation  of  horror. 

"  An'  thar  air  lots  o'  cur'ous  leavin's  in  Tennessee 
— bones  o'  big  animals  sech  ez  thar  ain't  none  of 
now  ;  an'  old  forts  with  trees  many  hundred  year 
old  growin'  over  'em,  an'  built  out'n  stones;  an' 
strange  paintings  on  high  cliffs,  what  some  say 
war  done  by  folks  in  a  boat  whenst  a  flood  war  in 
the  Ian' ;  an'  cur'ous  images  an'  weepons,  an'  cups 
an'  jugs  sech  ez  can't  be  fund  nowadays  nowhar. 
An'  of  all  the  queer  things  an'  cur'ous  tales  in  Ten 
nessee,  the  Leetle  People  take  the  lead." 

"  What  do  he  want  ter  know  thar  nation  fur  ?" 
demanded  Adelaide,  stonily.  "  They  lived,  and 
they  air  dead.  Let  him  take  God's  grace  for  the 
wisdom  of  it,  an'  ax  no  questions." 


COUNTRY.        161 

"  Oh,  ye  think  lie  air  a  common  thief  ez  be  arter 
the  value  o'  thar  truck,  like  the  ignorant  folks  round 
hyar !"  cried  Letitia,  repudiating  kinship  and  the 
community  in  the  pride  of  her  new  scientific  acqui 
sitions. 

"  Ye  1'arnt  that  from  him,  too,  I  reckon — a-girdin' 
at  yer  own  home  folks !"  said  Adelaide,  reproach 
fully. 

Letitia's  face  was  dyed  even  a  deeper  scarlet. 
"  Oh,  he  be  some  smarter  'n  folks  in  gineral,"  she 
protested,  nevertheless.  "  An'  Steve  tole  ye  so,  too, 
I'll  be  bound." 

This  allusion  struck  home. 

"  Waal,  thar's  been  enough  an'  too  much  quar'lin' 
over  him  now,  Litt,"  Adelaide  said,  sadly.  "  Don't  let's 
ye  an'  me  fall  out  'bout'n  him.  Sing  some  mo' — yer 
singin'  air  powerful  clear  an'  sweet — sing  some  mo'." 

Letitia,  only  half  appeased,  shook  her  head.  "  My 
singin'  'pears  tcr  raise  harnts,  or  the  devils,  or  suth- 
in',  ter-night.  I  can't  sing  no  mo'  with  sech  white 
queer  faces  tcr  peek  through  the  window  at  me." 

All  her  sparkle  seemed  quenched  somehow;  the 
airy  wings  of  her  wit  were  folded  and  trailing,  and 
she  was  afoot,  as  it  were,  in  the  dust. 

This  perception,  subtly  realized,  emboldened  Baker 
Anderson  to  perpetrate  in  his  turn  a  small  jest  at 
the  expense  of  his  late  tormentor. 

"  Oh,  ye  mought  ez  well  sing,"  he  said,  in  a  hu 
morous,  callow  growl,  and  with  an  awkward  wag  of 
his  square  head.  "  I  reckon  ye  never  see  nobody 
at  the  winder,  'ceptin'  mebbe  'twar  Fee  Guthrie, 
'shamed  ter  kem  a-visitin'  ye  every  night,  so  he 
mus'  hev  a  look  at  ye  whilst  singin',  through  the 
11 


162      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

winder — lie  'lows  yc  be  so  powerful  pritty."  And 
lie  grinned  broadly  in  the  pride  of  this  achieve 
ment. 

For  Felix  Guthrie  had  repeatedly  made  one  of 
the  small  party,  talking  chiefly  about  his  obdurate 
soul,  resistant  to  conversion,  much  as  if  it  were  an 
obstinate  mule,  until  a  late  bedtime  turned  his  steps 
from  the  door.  But  Letitia  was  neither  discomfit 
ed  nor  roused  by  this  unprecedented  conversational 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  shy  Baker.  She  only  re 
plied,  in  a  dull,  spiritless  tone,  "  'Twarn't  Fee." 

Her«eyes,  their  fine  color  still  asserted  in  the  glow 
of  the  red  embers,  had  in  them  a  certain  wonder,  a 
sentiment  of  pain,  a  touch  of  fear.  The  boy's  words 
had  given  direction  to  her  thoughts.  Felix  Guthrie 
would  not  have  lingered  to  see  her  sing — he  knew 
but  vaguely  that  her  face  charmed  him.  He  had  no 
adequate  sense  of  its  beauty.  She  herself  had  learn 
ed  it  only  in  another  man's  eyes — so  loath  they  were 
to  leave  it,  so  fired  with  some  subtle  enthusiasm  for 
it.  He  could  look  at  her  silently  for  hours;  but 
surely,  she  thought,  she  could  not  have  fancied  in 
that  sinister  apparition  at  the  window  any  resem 
blance  to  him.  And  why  should  he  linger  without 
and  peer  in  at  the  fireside  group  when  the  door 
would  have  opened  willingly  ?  It  was  not  he ;  but 
who  was  it?  And  this  mystery  bore  her  company 
into  the  dull,  dead  hours.  She  could  not  sleep  ;  her 
eyes  were  open,  and  staring  into  the  darkness  long, 
long  after  slumber  had  enwrapped  all  others  of  the 
household.  She  was  not  restless,  only  wakeful,  as 
if  she  should  never  sleep  again.  She  marked  all  the 
successive  changes  of  the  night.  A  long  time  a 


103 

cricket  shrilled  and  shrilled  in  some  cranny  of  the 
room,  and  at  last  was  weary,  and  so  grew  mute.  An 
owl  screamed  once  without,  and  was  heard  no  more. 
Occasionally  the  dogs,  who  slept  under  the  house, 
stirred  and  wheezed  and  changed  their  posture, 
bumping  their  heads  against  the  floor  as  they 
moved,  and  were  still  again.  The  wind  roved  for 
a  while  listlessly  about  the  garden  bushes,  and  at 
last  was  lulled  amongst  them.  And  then  ensued 
a  hush  so  intense,  so  prolonged,  that  it  weighed 
upon  her  senses,  alert  to  catch  and  distinguish  some 
sound  that  might  break  it.  Naught.  Not  even  the 
ashes  crumbled  in  the  wide  chimney-place,  where 
they  covered  the  embers.  So  deep  was  the  slumber 
of  Adelaide  beside  her,  of  Moses  in  his  crib,  that 
they  hardly  seemed  to  breathe.  Darkness  unbroken 
and  silence  absolute.  Thus  might  she  feel,  she 
thought,  without  sound  or  light,  if  perchance  she 
should  wake  some  time  in  her  grave,  after  she  had 
lain  five  centuries,  say,  quite  dead ;  as  the  Little 
People  might  feel,  stirred  to  some  merely  mechani 
cal  sensation  of  falling  to  dust,  in  those  quaint  cof 
fins  that  had  become  a  curiosity,  bereft  of  human 
significance,  of  fraternal  sanctity,  so  old,  so  queer 
they  were.  Thus  they  felt,  no  doubt,  in  the  long 
pauses  of  the  centuries  while  they  waited  for  the 
judgment. 

And  with  a  sudden  fear  of  a  dull  numbness  steal 
ing  over  her,  she  roused  herself  to  a  sitting  posture, 
and  slipped  from  the  high  piles  of  the  thick  feather 
bed  to  the  floor.  Her  bare  feet  were  noiseless  as 
she  crossed  the  room  and  sat  down  in  a  rocking- 
chair.  The  stones  of  the  hearth  were  warm  yet,  and 


164      IN  THE 

pleasant  to  the  touch.  She  heard  the  dogs  stir 
once  again,  and  a  young  horse  that  was  at  liberty 
without  trot  slowly  around  the  cabin. 

What  sort  of  lives  did  those  Little  People  lead 
here  ?  she  began  to  wonder  anew.  Was  the  grass  so 
fine  and  soft  and  green  in  their  day  as  now  ?  Did 
the  flowers  bloom,  and  the  sun  shine,  and  the  earth 
grow  so  fair  of  face  in  the  long  summer-time  that  the 
thought  of  death  became  inexpressibly  repugnant, 
and  one  might  wish  it  afar  off,  long,  long  to  wait 
on  this  sweet  existence  ?  O  Little  People,  that  it 
should  have  come  at  last !  0  Little  People,  to  lie 
so  long  and  wait  in  gloom  ! 

Somehow  the  thought  of  the  eventless  passing  of 
centuries  to  them  gave  her  a  more  adequate  idea  of 
the  quietus  of  death — its  insoluble  change.  She  felt 
stifling.  She  rose  to  her  feet,  opened  the  batten 
shutter  near  at  hand,  and  looked  out  upon  the  night. 
The  moon  had  risen  ;  she  had  hardly  expected  to  see 
it  there,  hanging  in  the  gorge  of  the  mountains  above 
the  falls.  Melancholy  and  waning  it  was.  She  had 
never  heard  that  it  was  a  dead,  burnt-out  world  of 
spent  fires  ;  she  thought  it  of  this  life,  and  she  wel 
comed  the  sight.  Stars  were  out,  and  the  clouds  all 
gone.  The  dank  breath  of  herbage,  sodden  with  rain, 
came  to  her ;  the  mists  were  barely  visible,  hovering 
above  the  dark  ravines.  The  shadows  were  long. 
She  saw  the  horse  whose  hoof-beats  she  had  heard, 
not  drowsing,  but  standing  beside  a  clump  of  bushes, 
his  ears  alert,  his  motionless  head  turned  intently 
toward  the  mountains.  The  sound  of  the  cataract 
was  only  a  dull  monotone,  as  if  it  slept  in  the  dead 
midnight.  And  suddenly,  as  she  stood  there,  with 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      165 

the  moonlight  on  her  white  gown  and  her  disordered 
hair  and  in  her  lustrous  eyes,  another  sound  smote 
her  ear — the  sound  of  a  pickaxe  striking  suddenly 
upon  stone.  It  came  from  the  pygmy  burying-ground. 
She  heard  it  only  once,  for  it  came  no  more. 


VIII. 

LEONARD  RHODES  arose  from  the  bed  to  which  his 
wounds  had  consigned  him  when  he  was  at  last  per 
mitted  to  dispense  with  the  vigilant  care  and  alert 
fears  of  the  "  verb  doctor."  The  methods  of  Phil 
Craig's  practice  consisted  largely  in  frustrating  dis 
astrous  possibilities.  "  Ye  can't  git  up  ;  ye  mought 
fever,"  he  replied  to  every  appeal.  "  Ye  mustn't 
think  'bout  nuthin' ;  ye  mought  fever !"  And  after 
the  extreme  limits  which  had  been  assigned  to 
Rhodes's  durance  were  reached,  the  doctor  revoked 
his  promises  of  liberation,  and  required  of  him  one 
day  more,  quiet  and  recumbent,  for  full  measure. 
Rhodes  might  hardly  have  submitted  had  he  not  been 
willing  that  the  community  should  think  his  hurt 
more  serious  than  it  really  was.  He  himself  appre 
ciated  that  the  wound  was  as  trivial  as  it  might  be. 
But  there  was  something  disastrous  to  the  preten 
sions  of  a  candidate  in  the  disproportionate  impor 
tance  that  had  been  attached  to  it — the  insult,  for  its 
paltry  sake,  that  his  friend  had  offered  to  Mr.  Pettin- 
gill,  his  host,  and  a  man  who  habitually  voted  with 
the  opposite  faction  ;  and  in  a  minor  degree  the  slur 
cast  upon  the  science  of  Phil  Craig,  who  cared,  how 
ever,  not  at  all,  looking  upon  Rhodes  merely  as  an 
object  of  flesh  and  blood  that  might,  under  certain 
contingencies,  perversely  undertake  to  fever.  Most 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      167 

of  all,  Rhodes  deprecated  the  tragic  conclusion  of  the 
midnight  errand  in  his  interest  on  which  Steve  Yates 
had  been  despatched.  Although  the  community  had 
generally  accepted  the  conclusion  that  Yates  had 
seized  the  opportunity  for  some  unknown  reason — a 
quarrel  with  his  wife  was  frequently  assigned  as  the 
cause — to  flee  the  country,  there  were  those  who 
shook  their  heads  darkly  over  the  mystery,  with  mis 
givings  and  grim  suggestions  and  hopes  that  "  the 
body  "  would  be  found  some  day.  And  from  these 
rumors  Leonard  Rhodes  feared  the  defeat  of  all 
his  cherished  schemes.  It  was  a  personal  popularity 
which  he  sought  to  conserve.  Party  feeling  ran  very 
high,  and  in  point  of  strength  the  two  opposing  fac 
tions  were  closely  matched.  It  was  only  by  virtue  of 
his  own  superior  quality  of  comradeship,  his  genial 
ity,  the  fact  that  he  was  untried  and  had  the  fasci 
nation  of  novelty,  and  was  held  to  possess  certain 
elements  of  character  challenging  admiration — being 
esteemed  brave,  gay,  full  of  generous  high  spirits 
— that  he  had  expected  to  overbear  the  balance, 
swinging  at  an  impartial  poise,  and  tip  it  ever  so 
slightly  in  his  favor.  How  far  this  prospect  had  been 
wrecked,  how  indissolubly  his  name  was  coupled  with 
ridicule  or  reprobation,  he  had  hardly  dared  to  con 
sider  as  he  lay  at  length  watching  the  light  and  shad 
ow  play  in  the  full-leaved  sycamore-tree  close  by  the 
roof-room  window,  the  flash  of  sunshine  on  the  white 
wings  of  the  nesting  pigeons  by  the  chimney,  the 
wolf-skins  swaying  from  the  rafters,  sometimes  seem 
ing,  when  the  sun  was  low  and  the  wind  flickered,  to 
reassume  the  symmetries  of  life,  and  to  lurk  there, 
with  shining  eyes  and  expectant  motion,  ready  to 


168      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

spring.  He  could  hear  the  river  chant  tirelessly  its 
sweet  low  monody  in  its  sylvan  shadows  ;  he  knew 
the  hour  by  the  voice  of  the  herds,  and  felt  scant 
need  of  his  watch  ticking  under  his  pillow  ;  but  most 
of  all  the  flight  of  time  was  indicated  by  the  sibilant 
wheeze  of  Mrs.  Pettingill,  often  audibly  conferring 
below  stairs  concerning  the  patient's  dinner  with  the 
anxious,  conscientious,  cautious  Craig,  who  seemed 
to  consider  all  the  disorders  of  the  body  to  arise  from 
the  bad  habit  of  eating  to  nourish  it.  His  profes 
sional  interdiction  was  upon  almost  every  dish  in 
Mrs.  Pettingill's  repertoire;  but  his  back  would  be 
hardly  turned  before  her  heavy  lumbering  step  was 
on  the  stair,  and  her  countenance,  red  from  bend 
ing  over  the  coals,  would  appear  above  the  door  in 
the  floor,  and  she  would  emerge  carrying  in  her  hand 
her  appetizing  blue  bowl,  or  one  of  her  large  willow- 
pattern  plates  that  knew  more  antiquated  delicacies 
than  often  grace  much  finer  ware.  Corrugated  con 
sciousness  of  dereliction  would  be  on  her  face,  but  a 
resolute  determination  to  persevere  in  sinning. 

"  Ef  Phil  Craig  hev  got  the  heart  ter  starve  ye,  I 
ain't"  she  would  wheeze.  "  An'  ef  ye  air  so  con- 
trairy-minded  ez  ter  die  o'  this  hyar  leetle  squab  pic 
an'  roastin'  ears — roasted  in  thar  husks — an'  a  small 
taste  o'  cheese  and  this  transparent  puddin',  I'll  jes' 
swear  I  didn't  kill  ye,  an'  ye  hed  nuthinj  from  my 
han'  but  cold  spring -water" 

And  having  thus  adjusted  her  deceit  to  the  possi 
ble  pursuit  of  the  laws  of  the  land,  she  would  admin 
ister  her  dainties,  often  descending  heavily  to  her  lair 
below-stairs  for  a  fresh  supply. 

Thus  it  was  that  with  all  the  hues  of  health,  all 


IN    THE 


169 


his  usual  vigor  of  step  and  manner,  Rhodes  appeared 
once  more  before  the  gaze  of  the  constituents  whom 
he  fain  would  capture. 

"  Hello  !  Ye've  been  'possumin',  Len,"  was  the 
surprised  cry  that  greeted  him  wherever  he  came. 
And  although  he  might  good-naturedly  parry  it,  and 
respond  to  praise  the  "  yerb  doctor's  "  skill,  still  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  scarcely  hurt  at  all  went  the 
rounds  of  the  gossips  and  caused  much  specula 
tion. 

"  'Twar  a  powerful  onlucky  hit  fur  Steve  Yates," 
one  of  the  mountaineers  observed  at  the  blacksmith's 
shop  one  day,  where  a  group  stood  about  the  door. 
"Ef  twarn't  fur  that,  he'd  hev  been  hyar  yit,  I 
reckon." 

"  Why  did  that  thar  Shattuck  hev  ter  sen'  Steve  a- 
skedaddlin'  off  in  the  midnight  fur  another  doctor- 
man  when  Phil  Craig  war  thar,  handy  ter  physic 
Rhodes  with  everything  ez  grows  ?  That  'pears  power 
ful  cur'ous  ter  me,"  said  the  blacksmith,  "  every  time 
I  git  ter  studyin'  'bout'n  it." 

"Mark  my  words,"  said  an  elderly  wight,  the 
smith's  father,  who  spent  much  time  gossiping  in  his 
son's  shop — he  had  a  grizzled  head  of  hair,  on  which 
his  hat  was  tilted  backward  ;  a  clean-shaven  face,  full 
of  the  script  of  years  ;  and  a  manner  not  less  weighty 
and  impressive  because  his  opinions  were  in  some 
sort  impeded  by  a  toothless  utterance,  so  did  the 
evidences  of  age  and  experience  lend  value  to  his  pre 
lections — "  whenst  ye  find  out  whar  Steve  Yates  went, 
an'  what  he  went  thar  fur,  ye'll  know  why  Shattuck 
sent  him.  They  air  tergether  in  that  business.  Mark 
my  words  !" 


170      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

The  suspicion  exploded  like  a  bomb-shell  amongst 
the  coterie,  doing  great  execution.  It  was  so  patent 
a  possibility  that  Shattuck  should  have  used  his 
friend's  temporary  unconsciousness  and  his  own  af 
fected  solicitude  as  a  blind  to  despatch  Steve  Yates 
upon  some  mysterious  errand  of  their  own,  from 
which  he  was  never  intended  to  return,  that  it  amazed 
all  the  cronies  that  so  obvious  an  idea  had  never  oc 
curred  to  them  before.  Far  more  natural  than  that 
Shattuck  should  experience  so  preposterous  a  fear  for 
so  slight  a  hurt.  "  Why,"  said  the  old  man,  "  Rhodes 
looks  ez  survigrous  ez  that  thar  oak-tree !"  pointing 
to  a  kingly  and  stalwart  specimen,  full-leaved  and 
flush  of  sap,  in  all  its  ample  verdure,  as  it  stood  over 
looking  the  barn-like  place.  Far  more  natural  than 
that  Shattuck  should  distrust  the  science  of  Philip 
Craig,  famous  as  a  "  yerb  doctor,"  and  prefer  Dr. 
Ganey,  the  man  of  nauseous  tinctures  and  extracts, 
and  pills  and  powders,  who  was  reputed,  moreover, 
to  have  poisoned  people  by  his  "  store  drugs,"  and 
was  known  to  have  set  a  man's  leg,  fractured  by  a 
fall,  so  that  although  he  walked  he  could  not  run  nor 
leap,  and  had  had  the  good  use  of  it  never  since — to 
send  for  him,  with  Phil  Craig  at  hand ! 

There  were  busy  times  after  this  at  the  black 
smith's  shop,  although  not  much  forging  was  done, 
so  completely  did  the  mystery  absorb  both  the  fre 
quenters  of  the  place  and  its  working  force.  They 
made  a  thousand  guesses  far  from  the  truth,  none  of 
which  seemed,  even  to  the  projectors,  sufficiently 
plausible  to  adopt,  until  one  day  a  conjecture,  with 
all  the  coercive  force  of  probability,  came  to  their 
minds  upon  the  receipt  of  strange  news,  which  seemed 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        l7l 

to  account  at  once  for  Steve  Yates's  absence  and  Shat- 
tuck's  motive  in  employing  him  on  this  wild-goose 
chase. 

On  the  previous  day  Shattuck  had  been  singularly 
ill  at  ease.  He  was  not  a  man  vigilant  for  cause  of 
offence,  and  when  his  friendship  and  trustfulness  had 
been  enlisted  he  was  even  obtuse  to  any  change  in 
the  moral  temperature  of  his  associates.  It  had  af 
fected  his  nerves  vaguely,  before  the  fact  was  even 
elusively  present  to  his  perceptions,  that  Rhodes  had 
begun  to  regard  him  differently,  and  that  the  new 
estimate  colored  his  friend's  manner.  As  this  grad 
ually  grew  upon  his  convictions,  he  received  it  with 
a  sense  of  injury.  He  had  in  naught  justified  it.  His 
presence  here  was  not  of  his  own  motion.  He  remem 
bered  how  Rhodes  had  besought  his  companionship 
upon  this  electioneering  tour ;  how  he  had  painted 
the  beauties  of  the  country,  the  quaint  character  of 
its  inhabitants  ;  how  he  had  promised  the  opening  of 
a  mound  on  his  own  land  to  feed  his  friend's  archae 
ological  fad,  and  a  monopoly  of  all  the  curios  that 
should  be  found  therein,  floridly  offering  them  as 
lures,  protesting  himself,  too,  as  under  infinite  pros 
pective  obligations,  and  urging  his  own  interest.  "  I 
have  to  have  a  friend  along,  and  Lord  knows  I  don't 
want  any  of  those  Colbury  galoots,  with  one  word  for 
me  and  ten  for  themselves." 

And  when  Shattuck  had  acceded,  and  the  peculiar 
ity  of  his  manner  had  proved  attractive  to  the  moun 
taineers,  and  encomiums  from  the  simple  people  fol 
lowed  him  here  and  there,  Rhodes  had  been  im 
pressed  with  the  idea  that  his  friend  was  an  immense 
acquisition  and  a  positive  help  in  the  canvass,  in 


172        IN    THE 

which  small  matters  of  personal  popularity  would 
have  to  count  against  party  principles.  Few  men  in 
this  world  could  be  more  engagingly  genial  and  affec 
tionate  than  was  Leonard  Rhodes  at  this  stage  of  his 
onslaught  upon  the  predilections  of  Kildeer  County. 
Shattuck,  who  gave  as  slight  attention  as  might  be  to 
these  circumstances  and  their  influence  upon  his 
friend's  manner,  had  only  felt  that  his  heart  warmed 
in  turn.  Although  vaguely  aware  for  some  time  that 
a  change  had  supervened,  he  experienced  a  shock 
when  a  surly  preoccupation,  an  intentional  espousing 
of  an  opposite  opinion,  which  evidently  had  no  foot 
in  conviction,  a  dull  monosyllable  in  reply,  that  was 
hardly  reply  at  all,  acquainted  him  definitely  with 
Rhodes's  state  c*f  mind  and  his  indifference  to  its  dis 
covery — nay,  that  he  rather  courted  a  quarrel. 

The  culmination  came  shortly  after  the  midday 
dinner ;  they  still  sat  in  the  dining-room  and  smoked 
their  pipes  over  a  small  smouldering  fire,  for,  despite 
the  brilliance  of  a  July  day,  the  air  was  chilly.  They 
had  gone  back  from  Pettingill's  cabin  to  Rhodes's 
own  house,  some  seven  miles  distant  down  the  val 
ley,  and  were  re-established  there.  It  had  been  un 
occupied  for  many  a  year  ;  the  transient  tenant  merely 
rented  the  lands  of  the  farm  ;  the  house  and  the  furni 
ture  remained  much  as  his  grandfather  had  left  them. 
It  was  a  double  frame  house,  with  curiously  low  ceil 
ings  ;  and  although  it  had  been  for  fifty  years  amaz 
ingly  fine  for  the  district,  it  was  not  quite  equal  to 
Colbury  ideals,  and  its  owner  often  pondered  upon 
getting  rid  of  it  when  he  should  have  a  sufficient 
offer  for  its  purchase.  He  had  lately  utilized  it  as  a 
point  of  departure  .for  his  hill-country  canvass  of  the 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         173 

two  counties,  being  more  convenient  than  periodic 
returns  to  Colbury,  and  he  had  in  the  kitchen  a  scorn 
ful  colored  couple — strictly  townsfolk — languishing 
in  exile,  amazed  at  the  lack  of  culture  of  the  moun 
taineers,  and  by  the  fact  that  there  was  so  large  an 
extent  of  waste  country  in  the  world. 

"  Ef  Len  Rhodes  hatter  be  made  gov'nor  o'  the 
State,  he  ain't  gwine  ter  do  it  by  foolin'  dis  chile  agin 
up  ter  dis  hyar  mizzable,  destitute  wilderness  ter 
cook  fur  him,  sure  !"  Aunt  Chancy  had  remarked  to 
the  equally  disaffected  and  lugubrious  Uncle  Isham, 
who  had  come  to  cut  wood  and  feed  the  horses. 

Rhodes  made  no  inquiry  as  to  how  they  contrived 
to  get  through  the  lonely  time  during  his  absences, 
nor  was  he  moved  by  their  reproachful  dark  faces  in 
the  interludes  of  his  returns.  They  were  fond  of 
society,  and  ornaments  of  select  colored  circles  in 
their  normal  sphere,  and  their  imaginings  had  never 
pictured  aught  so  bereft  of  interest  as  this  uninhab 
ited  space  in  the  "  flat  woods  "  so  near  to  the  great 
ranges. 

The  house  itself  touched  Shattuck's  predilections. 
To  him  a  peony,  highly  colored,  on  a  black  ground, 
in  a  mahogany  frame,  made  a  picture  full  of  quaint 
character.  The  tall  four-post  bedsteads,  with  paper 
canopy  emblazoned  with  a  wreath  of  morning-glories, 
which  suggested  matutinal  and  industrial  ideas  rather 
than  slothful  lingerings  beneath  their  fading  blooms  ; 
the  three  or  four  carpeted  steps  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed,  a  sort  of  movable  stair  to  enable  one  to  mount 
into  its  comforts ;  the  long  serpentine  sand-bag, 
which  lay  at  the  door  to  keep  out  the  draughts  ;  the 
stretch  of  mountains,  blue  far  away,  darkly  bronze 


174        IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S 

near  at  hand,  that  was  visible  from  the  tiny  panes 
of  every  window — all  combined  to  so  suggest  the 
past,  to  so  disunite  it  from  the  present,  that  imagi 
nation  needed  little  else  to  set  these  dim  rooms  astir 
again  with  former  occupants,  and  to  give  him  many 
an  idle  hour  of  pensive  fantasies  over  his  pipe. 

He  had  glanced  out  of  the  door  as  he  strolled 
about  the  dining-room,  which  opened  on  the  porch  at 
the  side  of  the  house ;  a  mass  of  grape-vines  twined 
over  its  dank  and  rotting  roof ;  the  heavy  clusters  of 
fruit-  had  ripened  here  and  there  to  a  rich  purple, 
with  a  silver  bloom  upon  it,  and  again  showed  only 
translucent  amber  globules  trenching  upon  a  rose 
ate  hue.  Amongst  them  all  a  tangle  of  white  mi- 
crophylla  roses,  their  branches  clambering  high,  was 
splendidly  in  blossom,  and  through  the  vista  he  saw 
the  distant  blue  peaks  of  the  Great  Smoky  Moun 
tains,  with  the  elusively  glimmering  mists  upon 
them. 

"  Len,"  he  said,  suddenly,  "  you  are  a  fool  if  you 
cut  away  that  lot  of  grapes  and  roses.  Let  the  porch 
rot.  You  can  get  a  hundred  such  porches,  but  you 
won't  come  up  with  a  tangle  like  that  again  in  a  life 
time." 

Rhodes  sat  at  ease,  his  chair  tilted  backward ;  his 
legs  were  extended  at  full  length.  His  pipe  was  in 
his  mouth,  and  his  hat  stuck  on  the  back  of  his 
head ;  his  richly  brown  hair  was  disordered  on  his 
forehead  ;  his  face  was  flushed,  partly  from  the  heat 
of  the  fire,  partly  from  the  smouldering  irritation 
which  Shattuck  did  not  as  yet  divine  ;  his  nose, 
usually  an  Inconspicuous  feature,  white  and  firm- 
fleshed,  looked  swollen  and  red,  as  if  he  had  been 


175 

drinking ;  his  ungraceful  posture  drew  his  waistcoat 
into  creases,  and  his  old  claret-colored  coat,  with  a 
velvet  collar,  seemed  high-shouldered  and  ungainly 
as  he  stayed  his  shoulder-blades  against  the  back  of 
the  chair. 

"  Well,  I'll  undertake  to  do  as  /  choose  with  my 
own,"  he  broke  forth,  suddenly.  "  I'll  put  the  axe 
to  the  root  of  the  whole  business  if  I  want  to." 

Shattuck  looked  at  him  in  amaze.  "  Why,  of 
course,  and  welcome.  What  do  you  mean  ?"  His 
tone  was  surprised  and  wounded,  but  pacific. 

Rhodes,  with  a  certain  relief  in  liberating  the 
pent-up  tides  of  his  vexation,  went  on  with  a  visible 
increase  of  vehemence.  "  I  mean  that  I  have  had 
about  as  much  of  your  interference  in  my  affairs  as 
I  have  got  a  mind  to  put  up  with."  He  spoke  be 
tween  his  set  teeth,  and  with  a  toss  of  his  hair, 
which  was  prone  to  fall  upon  his  face. 

Shattuck  stood  motionless,  scarcely  believing  he 
had  heard  aright.  A  flush  had  mounted  through 
his  thin  skin.  He  had  a  dismayed  and  hurt  expres 
sion  that  was  almost  appealing.  It  was  not  that  he 
found  Rhodes's  displeasure  itself  so  overwhelming. 
That  meant  little  to  him.  He  was  only  aghast  that 
Rhodes  should  make  him  feel  it  while  a  guest  in  the 
house.  All  the  exigencies  of  hospitality  hampered 
its  recipient,  and  he  hardly  knew  how  to  assert  him 
self,  how  to  lift  his  voice  in  defence. 

"  WTill  you  tell  me  how  1  have  interfered  with 
you  ?"  he  asked,  an  almost  imperceptible  tremor  in 
his  tone.  His  eyes  were  fixed  upon  Rhodes,  who 
did  not  meet  them  in  turn,  but  kept  his  gaze  upon 
the  fire,  still  slowly  smouldering. 


176        IN    THE 

"  How  ?  Well,  I  like  that  I"  He  cast  his  eyes  up 
to  the  high  mantel-piece,  and  laughed  a  little,  show 
ing  his  teeth — white  and  strong,  but  overcrowded 
and  unevenly  placed. 

With  all  his  odd  bits  of  learning,  Shattuck  knew 
little  of  human  nature.  He  had  mastered  more  of 
the  science  of  craniology  than  of  those  fine  aerial 
transient  guests  that  the  skull  may  house — retroactive 
motives  and  full-winged  schemes,  and,  strongest  of 
all,  that  moral  harlequin,  coming  and  going,  none 
knows  whence  or  whither,  the  impulse.  A  mad 
bull  is  hardly  in  a  state  of  mind  or  on  a  plane  of  cult 
ure  to  appreciate  an  accurately  balanced  syllogism, 
but  Shattuck  must  needs  offer  logic  to  Rhodes : 

"  No  stranger  here  could  have  influence  enough 
with  these  people  to  interfere  in  your  affairs.  I  am 
a  stranger  here.  I  could  not  interfere  even  if  I 
would.  How  could  I?  Why  should  I?" 

"That's  what  gets  me!"  cried  his  host,  coarsely. 
"  Why  you  should  have  undertaken  to  send  seven 
teen  miles  for  a  doctor  to  physic  a  small  scratch  on 
the  head,  and  how  you  could  insinuate  to  an  old  man, 
whose  guest  I  was — had  forced  myself  on  him,  in 
fact,  as  well  as  you — that  he  might  be  strung  up  if  I 
should  die  in  his  house  for  no  fault  of  his — it  all 
passes  my  comprehension." 

Shattuck's  flush  grew  deeper.  His  eyes,  whose  re 
proachful  look  the  other  never  met,  had  a  hot,  hunt 
ed,  harried  look. 

"  I  wouldn't  have  had  it  happen,"  cried  Rhodes, 
clasping  his  hands  behind  his  tousled  head,  the 
change  in  his  attitude  adding  to  the  dislocation  of 
his  aspect  and  the  precariousness  of  his  posture,  his 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      177 

chair  still  balanced  on  its  hind-legs,  his  own  legs  still 
stretched  out  at  full  length — "  I  wouldn't  have  had 
Steve  Yates  sent  on  that  lonely  road  at  midnight  on 
my  errand,  if  I  had  known  it,  for  a  million — a  quad 
rillion  of  dollars." 

"  Money  seems  really  no  object,"  Shattuck  retort 
ed,  somewhat  in  his  host's  own  vein.  His  eyes  were 
alert  now.  The  dull,  hurt  look  had  vanished.  He 
was  moved  to  defend  himself  against  a  reproach,  un 
just,  indeed,  but  which  his  own  troubled  heart  and 
tormented  conscience  and  sensitive  consciousness  had 
often  urged  in  their  reasonless  impunity.  He  was  in 
naught  to  blame  that  any  evil  had  befallen  Yates — 
this  he  knew  full  well — and  still  he  regretted,  and 
still  he  reproached  himself.  And  because  of  this  he 
had  become  expert  at  his  logical  self-defence,  and  he 
sprang  to  its  weapons  as  if  for  his  life. 

"  A  lonely  road  !"  he  sneered.  "  A  late  hour !  As 
if  I,  a  stranger  in  the  country,  did  not  travel  it  alone, 
and  at  midnight  too,  to  escape  the  heat  of  a  daytime 
journey,  as  everybody  does  who  has  occasion  to  come 
or  go  at  this  season.  I  took  excellent  care  of  myself 
upon  it.  I  met  nothin'g  but  a  rabbit  or  two  and  a 
few  stray  cattle.  It  never  occurred  to  me  that  Yates 
was  not  as  safe  on  that  road  as  in  his  own  house. 
And  I  did  not  ask  him  to  go.  He  volunteered.  I 
did  make  too  great  a  commotion  over  your  being 
hurt,  and  I  admit  it.  I  was  a  fool  for  that ;  and  I  was 
mistaken — considerably — both  in  the  nature  of  the 
wound  and  the  man  that  got  it.  I  gave  myself  too 
much  solicitude  altogether,  far  more  than  the  subject 
warranted." 

His  eyes  had  succeeded  in  meeting  Rhodes's  at 
12 


178      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

last,  but  they  saw  little  of  what  was  before  them. 
The  candidate  had  lowered  his  arms  to  a  normal  post 
ure  ;  the  fore-legs  of  his  chair  had  dropped  to  the 
floor  ;  he  sat  erect,  looking  intently  and  deprecating- 
ly  at  his  angry  friend,  so  hard  to  rouse,  so  thorough 
ly  roused  at  last.  Rhodes  was  of  that  temperament 
best  controlled  by  the  exhibition  of  a  counterpart 
emotion.  Shattuck's  anger  quelled  his  own.  He 
was  eager  to  interrupt,  wincing  under  the  low-toned 
words,  husky  with  passion.  He  was  of  versatile  ca 
pacities  ;  he  could  be  a  balance-weight  were  there 
no  one  else  to  keep  the  poise.  His  anger  was  only 
indulged  under  the  license  of  impunity.  It  had  evap 
orated  as  if  it  had  never  fired  his  blood.  He  re 
ceived  the  demonstration  with  a  palpable  surprise — 
as  though  he  had  done  naught  to  provoke  it — when  his 
friend,  turning  toward  the  door,  said,  ceremoniously  : 

"  And  now,  Mr.  Rhodes,  if  you  will  add  to  your 
kind  hospitality,  for  which  I  am  indebted,  the  favor 
of  ordering  my  horse,  I  will  trouble  you  with  my  '  in 
terference  '  no  more." 

Even  Shattuck  felt  that  he  had  gone  too  far,  that 
he  had  needlessly  quarrelled  on  a  small  provocation, 
when  the  other  called  out,  naturally : 

"  Why,  Shattuck,  I  am  surprised  !  You  ought  to 
be  ashamed  to  get  mad  so  easy,  when  you  know  how 
I'm  bothered  and  tormented  out  of  my  life.  And 
with  so  much  at  stake !  And  you  won't  let  me 
growl  a  little  bit  here  with  you  at  home,  when  I  can 
afford  to  growl  nowhere  else,  confound  it !  You 
ought  to  be  ashamed  !" 

Shattuck  hesitated.  He  cast  a  worried,  agitated 
glance  out  of  the  window  into  the  large  freedom  of 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      179 

the  sunshine  and  the  wind  and  the  flying  shadows  of 
the  fleecy  summer  clouds.  There  came  a  day  when 
he  remembered  the  moment,  when  he  regretted  that 
he  had  not  ridden  off  into  the  buoyant  midst  of  these 
lightsome  elements.  But  at  the  time  it  seemed  im 
practicable.  There  was  something  ludicrous,  even 
more,  unbecoming  a  gentleman,  in  leaving  a  friend's 
house  in  a  pet,  with  the  host's  reproaches  sounding 
in  his  ears,  to  be  matched  only  by  the  bitterness  of  the 
guest's  sneering  retorts.  There  was,  it  is  true,  that 
implacable  pride  within  him  to  which  forgiveness  is 
an  unimagined  possibility,  and  every  fibre  of  it  was 
poignantly  astir.  He  did  not  conceive  it  possible 
that  he  could  ever  overlook  Rhodes's  lapse  into  the 
blunt  speech  of  angry  sincerity,  unjustified  by  what 
ever  his  host  might  have  come  to  feel.  But  he  must 
have  the  semblance  of  comity  and  courtesy.  In  fact, 
he  could  hardly  bestride  his  horse  and  ride  away  from 
the  man's  door  without  this  friendliness,  spurious 
though  it  might  be,  in  his  farewell.  His  face  gave 
such  token  of  his  train  of  thought  that  Rhodes,  al 
though  seeing  him  hearken  to  the  suggestion  of  ami 
ty,  did  not  swing  back  to  the  half-veiled  surliness,  too 
often  the  effect  of  an  accepted  effort  at  reconciliation. 
"  Lordy  mercy  !  I'll  let  the  weeds  grow  sky-high 
if  you  want  to  see  the  place  go  to  rack  and  ruin,"  he 
said,  as  he  bent  forward  to  scoop  up  a  coal  in  his 
pipe  after  the  rural  fashion  he  affected.  "  I  didn't 
think  you'd  treat  me  so  mean  —  the  only  friend 
I've  got  left ;  a  broken  reed,  sure  !"  with  a  glance  of 
reproach.  "  You  might  afford  to  let  me  maunder, 
and  blame  you  or  anybody  else,  I  should  think,  for 
the  confounded  affair.  As  I'm  likely  to  lose  my 


180       IN    THE 

election  by  it,  I  might  have  the  poor  privilege  of  a 
scape-goat." 

"  I  won't  play  your  scape-goat,  I  thank  you  very 
much,"  said  Shattuck,  his  eyes  eager  with  his  wish 
to  go,  still  hovering  about  the  closed  door. 

"  So  I  perceive,"  said  Rhodes,  shortly.  Then, 
with  a  change  of  tone  and  an  appealing  glance  of  his 
dark-brown  eyes :  "  But,  for  God's  sake,  Shattuck, 
don't  run  away  and  leave  me  the  minute  I  flounder 
into  a  lot  of  bothers !  For  the  Lord's  mercy,  try  to 
put  up  with  me  a  little,  and  let  me  grumble  once  in  a 
while,  for  I  do  swear  to  you  this  whole  thing  has  put 
me  nearly  beside  myself.  You  know  it  is  a  canvass 
of  personalities,  and  there's  no  telling  the  use  this  will 
be  to  Devens  and  his  friends.  If  I  can't  carry  these 
mountain  districts  Pm  done,  for  the  party  issues  will 
beat  me  like  hell  in  Colbury  and  round  about." 

He  took  out  of  the  breast  pocket  of  the  old  claret- 
colored  coat  the  envelope  of  a  letter,  which  was 
scrawled  over  with  figures  pertaining  to  the  relative 
population  of  the  mountain  districts,  with  an  approx 
imative  calculation  of  the  votes  which  he  and  his  op 
ponent  might  respectively  receive.  The  smoke  from 
his  pipe  curled  between  the  paper  and  his  eyes,  but 
not  even  its  sinuous  vagaries  served  to  alter  the  ob 
durate  result,  nor  had  his  disaffected  anxious  gaze 
any  effect,  however  slight,  although  he  scanned  these 
estimates  forty  times  a  day. 

"  I  wish  to  God  I  knew  where  that  confounded 
fellow  Yates  was  !"  he  exclaimed.  "  They'll  all  have 
it  that  he  died  on  account  of  my  selfishness,  being 
forced  into  Lord  knows  what  dangers  in  my  service." 
Then,  with  the  politician's  instinct  for  a  popular  pose 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      181 

— although  at  his  own  fireside,  and  with  a  man  whom 
he  did  not  care  nor  seek  to  deceive — he  continued : 
"  And  for  his  sake,  Shattuck,  I'm  more  troubled  than 
for  my  own.  Why,  I  give  you  my  word  of  honor, 
1  hardly  knew  how  to  speak  to  his  wife — I  nearly 
said  his  widow — when  I  went  to  the  house  yesterday. 
And  I  couldn't  look  at  that  child  of  his.  It's  a  calam 
ity  to  them — a  tremendous  calamity — and  I  am  con 
cerned  in  it ;  and  the  Lord  above  knows  I  had  no  more 
to  do  with  it  than  if  I  had  been  as  dead  as  Hector !" 

Shattuck  had  seated  himself,  his  elbow  over  the 
back  of  the  chair,  his  chin  in  his  hand.  He  frowned 
heavily  as  he  looked  absently  out  of  the  tiny  win 
dow-panes  at  the  blue  mountains,  with  so  unseeing 
and  troubled  a  gaze  that  Rhodes  began  to  perceive 
that  he  had  not  only  his  own  anxieties  to  restrain, 
but  those  of  his  friend  as  well.  He  sighed  to  as 
sume  the  double  load.  He  had  a  definite  appre 
ciation,  however,  that  his  position  would  hardly  be 
bettered  by  his  friend's  desertion  of  him  now,  when 
he  could  not  control  the  reasons  therefor  which 
Shattuck  might  give  in  his  anger,  and  his  opponent 
devise  with  so  illimitable  a  license  as  speculation. 
He  came  to  wish  that  he  had  let  him  go,  but  at  that 
moment  he  exerted  all  his  reserve  force  of  geniality 
to  heal  the  wound  and  frustrate  his  guest's  departure. 

"  Oh,  come  on  !"  he  cried  out,  suddenly,  springing 
up  actively,  stretching  both  arms  above  his  head, 
shaking  out  first  one  leg  and  then  the  other,  that  the 
trousers  might  slip  down  over  his  long  boots,  and 
seeking  to  rid  himself  of  that  stupor  which  waits  on 
drowsing  before  a  fire  out  of  season — "  come  on  1 
We  are  fairly  baked  before  this  fire.  What  ails  that 


182        IN    THE 

old  nigger  to  build  a,  big  enough  fire  this  weather  to 
barbecue  himself — and  I  wish  he  would  !  I'll  order 
both  the  horses,  and  we  will  get  out  into  the  air,  and 
get  the  cobwebs  out  of  our  brains.  We'll  ride  up 
to  Fee  Guthrie's  on  the  mountain,  and  Til  do  a  little 
electioneering,  and  show  I  bear  no  malice  to  him. 
And  you'll  see  if  he  won't  let  you  go  digging  around 
on  his  land  in  the  cove  for  your  pygmies.  I  declare 
I  haven't  treated  you  right,  old  fellow  ;"  he  clapped 
his  hand  jocularly  on  his  guest's  shoulder  as  they 
stood  facing  each  other,  and  his  manner  of  friendli 
ness  was  not  impaired,  although  he  did  not  fail  to  see 
that  Shattuck  winced  almost  imperceptibly  at  his 
touch.  "  You  haven't  got  a  thing  in  the  world  but 
that  old  jug  out  of  my  mound" — and  he  glanced 
with  a  careless  eye  at  a  strangely  decorated  jar  on 
the  high  mantel-piece — "  and  not  a  bone  of  a  pygmy 
yet.  Maybe  Aunt  Chancy  could  fool  you  with  a 
beef  bone  or  two — ha!  ha!  ha! — hearing  you  set 
such  store  on  bones,  hey  ?" 

His  discretion  and  his  intuition  were  at  fault. 
There  is  naught  of  which  the  man  of  science,  albeit 
the  veriest  amateur,  is  so  intolerant  as  ignorant  ridi 
cule.  His  fleering  laugh  jarred  Shattuck's  nerves, 
made  sensitive  by  the  ordeal  of  the  morning,  and  his 
utter  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  meaning  of  that  bit 
of  pottery  was  as  pitiable  as  if  he  lacked  a  sense — 
that  of  sight,  for  instance,  and  jeered  at  the  idea  of 
light.  The  human  significance  of  it ;  the  lost  history 
of  lands  and  peoples  and  civilization,  of  which  it  was 
a  dim,  vague  intimation ;  the  flight  of  time  that  it 
so  fully  expressed ;  the  idea  of  death,  of  oblivion,  of 
which  it  was  so  apt  an  exponent !  Shattuck  could 


COUNTRY.        183 

not  look  at  it  without  the  thought  of  the  hands  that 
had  carried  it ;  the  lips  that  had  touched  it ;  the 
strange,  strange  faces  that  had  bent  above  it,  reflect 
ed  within  its  walls  when  full  of  water ;  the  words, 
spoken  in  an  unknown,  forgotten  language,  of  am 
bition  or  love  or  homely  household  usage,  to  which 
it  had  echoed — for  a  vibrant  quality  it  had,  porce 
lain-like.  These  immortal-seeming  essences  were  all 
gone ;  yet  here  was  the  dumb  insensate  bit  of  clay 
left  for  him  to  turn  in  his  foreign  hands  and  ponder 
over  with  his  foreign  fancies — the  idea  wrung  every 
fibre  of  feeling  within  him !  And  Rhodes's  laugh 
was  the  vulgarity  of  the  vandal. 

The  state  of  vacuity  that  does  not  feel  and  cannot 
know  is  made  cognizable  sometimes  to  the  thinking 
and  the  feeling  soul  by  a  dreary  sense  of  solitude,  for 
which  the  consciousness  of  the  finer  susceptibility 
does  not  compensate.  It  was  not  that  Shattuck  re 
sented  the  fact  that  his  friend's  limitations  preclud 
ed  his  sharing  these  enthusiasms,  as  that  that  burden 
of  isolation,  that  painful  consciousness  of  a  lack  of 
congeniality,  that  yearning  for  fellowship,  so  poig 
nant  to  the  gregarious  human  animal,  came  upon 
him  for  the  moment;  a  realization  of  being  alone, 
out  of  the  reach  of  his  companion,  beset  him,  and  he 
found  it  bitter,  albeit  he  recognized  that  his  higher 
standpoint  created  the  inaccessibility. 

Rhodes,  once  more  in  the  saddle,  was  infinitely 
conversable.  He  had  on  the  face  which  he  took 
about  with  him  on  his  canvass — his  best  expression, 
gay,  gentle,  kind ;  his  conversation  was  full  of  conn- 
try  jokes,  which  he  delivered  with  a  rural  drawl,  and 
he  was  about  as  rustic  a  specimen  as  an  educated 


184     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

man  can  well  personate.  He  never  dropped  the 
character  for  a  moment,  although  he  hardly  cared  to 
impress  his  friend  with  its  value.  Its  lapses  from 
his  usual  habit  of  speech  revolted  Shattuck  in  some 
sort,  albeit  the  contorted  language  of  the  ignorant 
mountaineers  never  grated  upon  his  somewhat  nice 
philological  prejudices.  One  was  the  voice  of  affec 
tation — an  aping  of  boorishness  and  rusticity  and 
yeoman  simplicity,  which  Shattuck  called  by  the  not 
inapt  name  of  "  poor-mindedness ;"  the  other  was 
the  natural  speech  and  manners  of  those  deprived  of 
opportunities  of  culture,  and  was  entitled  to  respect 
as  being  the  best  they  could  do. 

"  Bless  your  soul,  Rhodes,"  he  said  at  last,  with  a 
touch  of  satire,  "  you  needn't  put  so  many  negatives 
in  a  sentence  with  the  kind  object  of  pleasing  me ; 
I'm  not  a  registered  voter  in  either  of  your  counties. 
And  I  love  you  so  that  I'd  vote  for  you,  if  I  could, 
just  as  willingly  for  three  or  four  negatives  in  a  sin 
gle  negation  as  for  eight.  Save  'em  up,  my  dear 
boy.  I  remember  the  fate  of  the  man  who  couldn't 
say  '  No,'  but  I  must  say  I  don't  think  it  impends 
for  you  at  present." 

"  Hello  !  I  didn't  know  you  were  such  a  school 
master.  I'll  have  to  mind  my  p's  and  q's,  hey  ?" 
said  Rhodes,  with  a  good-natured  intonation,  al 
though  he  had  flushed  darkly  at  the  taunt. 

So  instilled  into  his  blood  was  the  instinct  of  pol 
icy,  however,  that  he  abated  naught  of  his  determi 
nation  to  conciliate  his  friend  if  possible  beyond  this 
merely  outward  truce.  And  now  was  illustrated  how 
subservient  is  the  science  of  propitiation  to  the  ob 
ject  upon  which  it  is  exerted,  for  Leonard  Rhodes 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLED  "    COUNTRY.        185 

had  been  held  to  possess  the  subtle  art  to  an  extreme 
degree,  and  so  proficient  had  he  become  therein  that 
he  was  wont  to  find  its  unctuous  exercise  a  pleasure. 
He  could  but  himself  admire  the  dexterity  with 
which  he  brought  the  conversation  to  prehistoric 
America,  especially  prehistoric  Tennessee.  He  had 
paused  when  they  had  reached  one  of  the  high 
ridges  about  the  base  of  the  great  mountains  far 
above,  and  he  called  to  Shattuck  to  observe  that, 
looking  back  toward  his  place,  they  could  distinctly 
see  the  mound,  and  that,  looking  forward  down  the 
multitudinous  defiles  amongst  the  ranges,  the  pygmy 
burying-ground  might  be  located  by  the  proximity 
of  the  cataract,  a  mere  cascade  in  the  distance,  an 
emerald  gleam  and  a  glittering,  white,  plume-like 
waving.  Thence  the  transition  was  easy  to  the 
many  antiquities  found  within  the  state.  To  his 
surprise,  Shattuck  seemed  incomprehensibly  to  hold 
back  and  to  grow  reticent.  Rhodes  had  material  to 
work  upon  far  different  from  the  simple  unsuspect 
ing  country  folk.  He  had  not  thought  that  divina 
tion  could  so  keep  pace  with  most  secret  and  supple 
intention,  and  that  his  object  was  perfectly  plain  and 
unglossed  to  the  man  whom  it  sought  to  mislead. 
Shattuck  was  almost  openly  impatient  of  the  topic 
on  which  he  was  wont  to  love  to  talk,  and  which  he 
often  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  relinquish.  He 
would  not  seriously  discuss  it  now.  When  Rhodes 
demanded  of  him  a  theory  concerning  the  ancient 
aboriginal  races,  based  upon  evidences  of  their  ad 
vanced  civilization,  he  replied  with  uncharacteristic 
flippancy  that  he  was  never  acquainted  with  any  of 
them,  and  that  lie  could  make  a  pretty  pot  of  money 


186        IN    THE 

if  he  had  been.  And  when  Rhodes,  with  that  heavy 
assuming  ignorance  which  is  so  ready  to  trench  upon 
unknown,  untried  ground  of  laborious  research,  deem 
ing  all  things  slight  and  of  small  difficulty  that  are 
strange  to  its  meagre  acquisitions,  attempted  to  argue 
certain  hypotheses  upon  which  he  had  heard  him 
descant,  Shattuck  left  the  disquisition  to  his  host, 
not  even  affecting  to  set  him  right  when  Rhodes 
himself  could  feel  that  he  was  floundering.  The 
candidate  was  wanting  in  any  fine  capacity  to  read 
character  or  conduct  in  its  more  delicate  script,  and 
Shattuck's  state  of  mind  was  as  undecipherable  hie 
roglyphics.  Thus  at  cross-purposes  they  at  last 
reached  Guthrie's  home,  high  up  on  the  mountain. 


IX. 

THE  house  was  the  usual  small  log  cabin,  so  over 
shadowed,  however,  by  trees,  dense  and  dark,  that 
not  the  whole  structure,  but  only  the  tiny  porch  and 
door  were  visible  up  the  dusky  green  vista.  When 
the  sun  fell  through  the  leaves  it  was  in  fleckings 
of  abnormal  lustre,  so  deep  was  the  shade.  Fowls 
pecked  about  in  the  long  dank  grass.  From  high 
up  on  the  mountain -side  came  the  clear  metallic 
clink  of  a  cow-bell.  A  spring  gurgled  close  at  hand 
in  the  yard,  and  a  vessel,  with  butter  or  milk  in  it, 
covered  with  a  white  cloth,  was  visible  among  the 
gravelly  banks  that  bounded  the  spring  branch.  An 
old  woman,  tall  and  stalwart,  sitting  upon  the  porch, 
furtively  looking  at  the  two  visitors  as  they  came 
through  the  bars  and  up  the  path,  had  so  forbidding 
an  aspect  that  Shattuck  was  reminded  of  the  super 
stition  of  "  an  evil  eye."  She  gave  them  no  greet 
ing,  but  listened  silently  as  Rhodes,  having  pulled 
himself  together  again  into  his  genial,  rustic,  can 
vassing  identity,  asked  for  Felix  Guthrie.  lie  broke 
off  short. 

"  Now,  I  wonder  if  you  ain't  Mrs.  Guthrie !"  he 
exclaimed. 

"  Ye  air  a  good  guesser,"  she  said,  with  a  sneer. 
"  Who  else  would  I  be,  hyar  in  Fee  Guthrie's  house  ?" 

She  wore  no  cap.     Her  hair,  luxuriant  and  gray, 


188        IN    THE 

was  cornbed  plainly  down  over  her  ears  and  caught 
in  a  heavy  coil,  that  betokened  its  great  length,  at 
the  back  of  her  head.  Her  face  in  contrast  was  sal 
low  and  parchment-like.  The  features  were  singu 
larly  straight ;  her  eyes  were  dark,  her  spectacles 
were  mounted  upon  her  head,  and  her  expression 
was  unsmiling.  It  was  hardly  wonderful  that  Rhodes 
should  have  lost  his  balance,  and  he  had  a  discom 
fited  sense  that  Shattuck  might  relish  the  fact. 
Shattuck,  however,  was  looking  about  with  his  usual 
keen  susceptibility  to  the  interest  of  new  places  and 
people. 

"  I  mean,"  said  Rhodes,  confused,  "  the  second 
Mrs.  Guthrie." 

"  I  ain't  the  fust  one,  now,  sure,"  she  said,  her 
eyes  fixed  upon  him  with  a  sort  of  pertinacious  at 
tention.  "  An'  what's  that  to  you  ?" 

Rhodes  made  a  mighty  endeavor  to  cast  off  the  in 
fluences  that  paralyzed  his  advances.  "  You'd  never 
guess,  and  so  I'll  tell  you.  I  have  heard  my  grand 
father  talk  about  you  enough — how  he  danced  with 
you  at  a  bran  dance  down  on  Tomahawk  Creek.  Re 
member  old  Len  Rhodes  ?  Young  Len,  he  used  to 
be ;  but  I  am  young  Len  now,  myself." 

Her  face  changed  suddenly,  so  unexpectedly  that 
one  might  wonder  that  it  did  not  creak,  so  stiff  and 
immobile  had  the  features  seemed.  There  was  a 
new  expression  in  her  eye — a  sort  of  glitter  of  ex 
pectancy. 

"  What  did  he  say,  this  hyar  old  young  Len 
Rhodes  o'  yourn  ?  What  did  he  say  'bout'n  me  ?" 
She  had  a  cautious  air,  as  if  she  reserved  her  opin 
ions. 


189 

Rhodes  had  taken  off  his  hat  and  was  leaning 
against  the  post  of  the  porch,  although  he  still  stood 
upon  the  ground.  He  burst  into  sudden  laughter  that 
seemed  to  startle  the  somnolent  dark  stillness  of  the 
shadows. 

"  Oh,  no,  Mrs.  Guthrie,"  he  cried,  archly.  "  You 
don't  catch  me  that  way.  You'll  be  saying  next 
thing  that  because  I'm  running  for  the  Legislature 
I'm  going  round  the  country  trying  to  get  votes  by 
flattering  the  ladies.  I  don't  know  what  the  t'other 
Len  Rhodes  said  to  you  that  day  at  the  bran  dance 
on  Tomahawk  Creek  years  and  years  ago,  but  this 
Len  Rhodes  ain't  a-goin'  to  repeat  any  of  his  second 
hand  compliments,  not  if  he  knows  himself,  and  he 
think  he  do  !" 

A  faint  color  was  in  her  parchment-like  cheek,  a 
yellow  gleam  in  her  black  eyes  ;  the  woman  seemed 
to  have  grown  suddenly  young !  A  moment  ago  the 
idea  might  have  been  ridiculous,  but  now  it  was  easy 
to  see  that  she  must  have  been  beautiful — most 
beautiful.  And  she  was  determined  to  hear  the  words 
in  which  old  Len  Rhodes — in  her  day  young  Len 
Rhodes,  the  judge's  son,  and  the  richest  and  most 
notable  man  in  all  the  county — had  celebrated  the 
fact.  Her  vanity  still  burned,  albeit  embers.  How 
long,  how  long  since  fuel  had  been  brought  to  feed 
this  fire,  that  nevertheless  would  die  only  when  her 
breath  might  leave  her  ! 

"  Oh,  ye  air  jes'  a-funnin' !  Ye  can't  remember 
nuthin'  yer  gran'dad  tole  'bout  the  gals  he  danced 
with  forty-five  year  ago.  He  couldn't  tell  'em  one 
from  t'other  hisself  arter  twenty  year  had  passed. 
Gals  is  mos'ly  alike,"  she  added,  with  a  conscious- 


190        IN    THE 

ness  that  Rhodes  had  knowledge,  as  far  as  she  her 
self  was  concerned,  which  contradicted  this  humble 
assertion.  She  smiled  upon  him.  "  Ye  mus'  git  in 
the  habit  o'  tellin'  a  heap  o'  lies  clectioneerin'.  An' 
ye  feel  like  ye  mouglit  ez  well  bamboozle  one  or  two 
old  wimmin  ez  not  'mongst  the  men.  A  few  lies 
mo'  or  less  won't  make  much  diff  ence  in  the  long 
count  again  ye  at  the  jedgmint-day." 

"  I'll  tell  you  something  that's  got  the  ear-marks 
of  truth — something  that  Len  Rhodes  told  me  about 
yow,"  declared  Rhodes,  apparently  led  on  and  over- 
persuaded  into  loquacity — "  something  that  I  couldn't 
know  of  myself.  Ain't  that  fair,  Shattuck  ?  This  is 
my  friend  Mr.  Shattuck,  Mrs.  Guthrie.  I  carry  him 
around  to  keep  the  girls  from  running  off  with  me. 
The  other  Len  Rhodes  had  no  such  trouble  when  you 
knew  him.  I'll  be  bound  the  main  thing  was  to  keep 
him  from  running  off  with  the  girls.  Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !" 

Mrs.  Guthrie  bent  her  softened  and  unrecognizable 
face  upon  Shattuck,  and  said  that  he  was  "  right  wel 
come"  and  she  was  glad  to  see  him.  Then  she 
turned  to  the  candidate,  with  an  anxiety  which  was 
almost  pathetic,  to  hear  that  younger  self  praised  in 
the  repeated  words  of  a  man  she  had  known  forty- 
five  years  ago. 

"  Waal,  I'll  know  the  ear-marks  of  the  truth 
whenst  I  hear  it,"  she  prompted  his  lagging  resolve. 

"Your  name  was  Madeline  Crayshaw,"  he  began. 
He  was  gayly  fanning  himself  with  his  hat. 

"  Ye  could  hev  fund  that  out  ennywhar,"  she  said, 
expectantly. 

"  And  your  eyes  were  black,"  he  went  on,  with  an 
air  of  gallantry. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      191 
They  air  yit,"  she  interposed,  flashing  them  at 


"  And  for  all  your  eyes  were  black,  your  hair  was 
as  yellow  as  gold,  a  yard  long.  Could  I  find  that  out 
now  by  looking  at  you  ?" 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  And  Len  Rhodes  said  you  looked  when  you 
danced  for  all  the  world  '  like  a  lettuce-bird  a-fly- 
ing.'  " 

"  Who  would  hev  thunk  o'  hearin'  that  old  fool 
ishness  agin  ?"  she  cried,  her  eyes  dim  with  pleasure. 
"  I  don't  look  like  a  lettuce-bird  now ;  some  similar 
ter  a  ole  Dominicky  hen,  I  reckon,  stiddier  a  lettuce- 
bird.  But  that  war  the  word  on  the  tip  o'  Len 
Rhodes's  tongue,  for  he  never  got  tired  o'  talkin'  o' 
yaller  hair  an'  black  eyes.  I  wonder  the  'oman  he 
married  at  las'  warn't  no  better  favored,"  she  added, 
with  a  sudden  hardening  of  the  lines  of  her  features. 
"  Sech  a  admirer  o'  beauty  ez  he  war !  But  he  war 
a  admirer  o'  lan's  an'  cattle  an'  bank-stock  ez  well ; 
an'  yer  granmam  war  mighty  well  off,  ef  she  war 
little  an'  lean  an'  hed  no  head  o'  hair  at  all,  ter  speak 
of." 

Rhodes  did  not  change  color.  There  may  have 
been  those  in  his  grandmother's  days  ready  to  break 
a  lance  in  support  of  the  supremacy  of  her  charms, 
but  her  grandson  had  no  mind  to  enter  such  anti 
quated  lists.  He  only  said,  with  electioneering  sub 
tlety — the  development  of  which  Shattuck  watched 
with  the  admiring  curiosity  and  wonder  that  he 
might  feel  concerning  some  acrobatic  feat  which  he 
should,  nevertheless,  never  desire  to  imitate  or  emu 
late — "Yes,  pretty  girls  had  mighty  little  need  of 


192 

bank-stock  and  lands  then,  as  now.  Beauty  always 
will  be  chosen.  If  you  had  a  daughter  now,  you 
might  make  it  up  to  me  for  having  given  my  gran 
dad  the  go-by." 

She  looked  at  him  with  narrowing  lids,  wondering 
if  he  truly  thought  it  possible  that  his  grandfather 
had  been  her  rejected  suitor — a  gay  gallant,  who  had 
danced  with  all  the  country-side  beauties,  among 
whom  he  was  a  toast  with  his  soft  words  and  his 
flatteries  sown  broadcast,  but  who,  when  about  to 
settle  down,  had  chosen  a  staid,  pious,  educated  wife, 
whose  social  status  was  such  as  to  make  his  mar 
riage  a  decided  looking-up,  even  for  him.  Leonard 
Rhodes's  claim  to  rank  with  "  the  quality "  was 
largely  dependent  upon  her  side  of  the  house.  The 
assumptions  of  vanity,  however,  have  an  elastic  limit. 
Mrs.  Guthrie  stretched  it,  convinced  that  he  believed 
that  the  rich,  dashing,  flirting  son  of  the  judge  was 
in  the  old  days  the  disappointed  swain  of  a  simple 
mountain  girl.  Thenceforward,  when  she  set  herself 
to  boast  of  her  youth,  she  claimed  the  trophy  of  his 
heart,  dust  and  ashes  long  ago  in  the  grave  of  the 
simple-minded  old  gentleman,  who  had  grown  sober 
under  life's  discipline  before  he  was  forty,  and  had 
forgotten  his  merry  youth  save  for  a  casual  reminis 
cence. 

"  Yes,"  continued  Rhodes,  "  I  ought  to  be  coming 
up  here  to  see  some  lettuce-bird  of  a  girl,  instead  of 
those  hulking  step-sons  of  yours,  Fee  and  Ephraim, 
to  humbug  'em  into  voting  for  me.  Make  'em  vote 
for  me,  Mrs.  Guthrie.  You  owe  me  one  now — you 
owe  me  one  for  the  old  time's  sake." 

"  They  needn't  kem  home   tcr  me  ef  they  don't 


COUNTRY.         193 

vote  fur  ye,"  she  said,  fascinated  with  this  fictitious 
conquest.  She  bore  herself  more  proudly  for  it  to  the 
day  of  her  death,  although  she  knew  in  her  secret  soul 
the  falsity  of  what  he  seemed  to  believe.  On  such 
slight  fare  as  this  can  the  vanity  of  a  woman  subsist. 

And  when  he  turned  casually  and  asked,  "  Where 
arc  the  boys,  anyhow  ?"  she  directed  him  to  a  barley 
field,  where  they  were  cradling  barley,  and  told  him 
to  come  back  that  way  with  his  friend,  and  she  would 
have  a  "  snack"  for  them.  Shattuck  marked,  as  they 
started,  the  alacrity  with  which  she  was  rolling  up  the 
stocking  that  she  had  been  knitting,  and  sticking  the 
needles  into  the  ball  of  yarn,  her  fine  head,  with  its 
wealth  of  gray  hair,  distinct  against  the  heavy  vines 
that  draped  the  porch.  Their  way  took  them  around 
the  side  of  the  house  in  the  deep  lush  grass,  past  the 
beehives  all  ranged  by  the  fence,  which  was  ascended 
and  descended  by  a  flight  of  steps,  and  surmounted 
by  a  small  platform,  and  thence  down  through  the 
orchard.  Here  the  birds  congregated  in  the  thickly 
matted  foliage.  Only  now  and  then  at  long  intervals 
its  dark  green  shadow  was  penetrated  by  the  sun. 
The  warm  fragrance  of  the  so-called  June  apples  was 
on  the  July  air ;  the  clover  bloomed  underfoot,  and 
the  bees  boomed  ;  the  call  of  the  jay,  the  sweet  pen 
sive  cooing  of  a  dove,  sounded ;  then  all  was  silence, 
save  for  a  mere  whisper  of  the  sibilant  wind. 

Rhodes  took  off  his  hat  as  he  walked,  with  the  air 
of  a  need  to  refresh  himself,  his  richly  brown  hair 
slightly  stirring  in  the  breeze.  He  cast  his  absorbed 
glance  at  his  friend. 

"  Ain't  she  tur'ble  'oman  ?"  he  said,  his  election 
eering  ellipses  sticking  to  his  speech. 
13 


194 

"  Not  so  very  '  tur'ble,'  that  I  can  see,"  said  his 
friend,  with  unnoticed  mimicry. 

"  Oh,  Lord  !  yes,  she  is  !"  And  Rhodes  wagged  his 
head  with  an  unequivocal  sincerity.  "  I  know  folks 
say  she  was  an  awful  termagant  with  her  first  husband, 
who  was  a  consumptive  ;  and  they  did  have  a  story  " 
— he  lowered  his  voice,  and  glanced  cautiously  around 
him — "that  she  hastened  his  end  to  be  rid  of  the 
bother  of  nursing  him.  And  then  she  married  this 
fellow  Guthrie's  father.  And  she  made  a  perfect 
jubilee  up  here  a-beatin'  the  childern.  I  know  the 
tales  about  it  useter  skeer  me  !  I  was  a  little  shaver 
then,  and  I  wouldn't  go  in  the  dark  for  fear  of  meet 
ing  her,  though  I  had  never  seen  her.  At  last  one 
day  Felix  got  his  chance,  and  bit  her  arm  nearly 
through,  and  ever  afterward  he  clawed  and  bit  and 
fought  till  she  let  him  and  Ephraim  alone.  Yes,  my 
grandfather  said  she  turned  out  exactly  like  he  al 
ways  knew  she  would." 

"  Why,  I  thought  you  said  he  was  in  love  with 
her,"  exclaimed  Shattuck,  for  Rhodes's  representa 
tion  had  borne  such  verisimilitude  as  might  deceive 
a  casual  on-looker  as  well  as  one  eager  to  be  con 
vinced.  Rhodes  cast  upon  him  an  amazed  glance. 

"  What !"  he  said,  in  his  genuine  "  quality"  voice, 
as  if  this  had  touched  the  climax  of  the  improba 
bilities. 

Shattuck  marked  the  vibrations  of  pride  and  sur 
prise  ring  out  smartly. 

Then  Rhodes,  hesitating  for  a  moment,  added, 
"  My  grandmother  was  a  lady.  As  to  beauty" — the 
sneer  about  beauty  had  evidently  rankled  —  "  why, 
such  things  as  prettiness  and  coquetry  were  never 


COUNTRY.       195 

thought  of  in  connection  with  her.  She  was  a  lady, 
and  when  you've  said  that  you've  said  it  all.  And 
she  was  such  a  superior  woman !  My  grandfather 
outmarried  himself  more  than  any  man  you  ever 
saw." 

Shattuck  was  silent  for  a  moment.  "  I  thought," 
he  remarked  at  length,  "  that  it  was  the  American 
eagle  that  fluttered  most  through  the  rhetoric  of 
electioneering  eloquence.  I  didn't  know  that  the 
lettuce-bird  had  superseded  the  big  national  fowl." 

"  Oh,"  exclaimed  Rhodes,  who  had  waited  on  his 
friend's  words  with  a  knitted  brow,  and  he  drew  a 
long  breath  of  comprehension,  "grandpa  did  use  to 
say  the  prettiest  girl  he  ever  saw  was  this  Madeline 
Crayshaw.  He  never  saw  her  but  once.  It  was  at  a 
bran  dance  on  Tomahawk  Creek — some  sort  of  a  po 
litical  commotion,  speechifying  in  favor  of  Henry 
Clay  or  some  other  old  cock.  He  said  her  hair  was 
the  color  of  nothing  in  this  world  but  a  lettuce-bird, 
and  she  had  the  disposition  of  a  panther.  He  said  she 
reminded  him  of  a  wild  woman — some  sort  of  savage 
— and  he  wondered  if  she  could  look  pleased,  and  if 
she  were  subject  to  the  same  sort  of  compliments 
that  other  girls  like.  So  when  she  was  glower 
ing  round  at  the  other  girls  as  if  she  could  rend 
'em  with  jealousy,  he  tried  the  lettuce-bird  dodge. 
And,  bless  your  soul,  she  was  as  pleased  and  sweet  as 
pie." 

"  And  has  remembered  it  for  forty-five  years,  poor 
thing !"  said  Shattuck. 

"  Ha !  ha !  ha  !  *  Poor  thing !'  She  never  made  you 
learn  to  kick  and  bite  and  fight  to  keep  a  whole  skin 
and  a  whole  set  of  bones.  Fee  Guthrie  don't  say 


19G      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S      COUNTRY. 

'  poor  thing  !'  I  won't  go  back  to  the  first  husband, 
for  I  hadn't  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance,  and  he 
may  have  died  simply  because  it  was  too  much 
trouble  to  live." 

"  And  you  made  her  believe  that  you  thought  your 
grandfather  was  in  love  with  her — had  been  rejected 
by  her.  You  deceived  her  !" 

"  Man  alive  !  how  could  I  ?  She  knew  she  never 
saw  him  but  once  in  her  life.  And  how  can  I  make 
tenders  of  his  affections  at  this  late  day?  Tenders 
of  affection  are  not  retroactive.  A  man  can't  flirt  as 
proxy  for  his  dead  grandfather.  It  was  merely  a 
little  electioneering  compliment." 

"  Oh,  Rhodes,  how  do  you  manage  to  look  yourself 
in  the  face  in  the  mirror  ?"  exclaimed  Shattuck,  with 
a  laugh. 

"  I  look  at  myself  in  the  mirror  with  a  good  deal 
more  pleasure  than  is  proper,  I  expect,"  said  Rhodes, 
smoothing  his  handsome  and  lustrous  red -brown 
beard.  He  tipped  his  straw  hat  over  his  smiling, 
full-lashed  dark  eyes,  for  they  were  out  of  the  shad 
ows  at  last,  and  in  the  sun  amongst  a  stretch  of  the 
barley.  The  wind  bent  it ;  long  glintings  of  pale 
light  pervaded  it.  The  whole  field  was  of  a  delicate, 
fluctuating  green,  with  these  fine  undulations  like 
quicksilver  running  over  it.  Sometimes  the  shadow 
of  a  cloud  came,  a  thing  swiftly  scudding  and  noise 
less  too,  and  the  green,  hitherto  held  in  indefinite  so 
lution,  was  precipitated  into  a  pure  emerald  tint,  for 
this  was  a  later  sowing  than  the  spaces  further  down 
the  slope,  which  had  grown  tawny  with  ripeness,  and 
showed  on  the  hither  side  the  long  swaths  from  tho 
cradling,  drying  upon  the  ground.  The  cradles  lay 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      197 

there  too,  and  beneath  the  dark  shadow  of  a  great 
spreading  buckeye-tree  in  a  corner  of  the  fence — the 
only  one  in  the  field  that  bore  its  pristine  richness  of 
foliage,  for  the  rest,  gaunt  and  bare,  girdled  long  ago, 
towered  into  the  air,  dead,  white,  and  unsightly — 
lounged  the  two  brothers,  loitering  away  the  heated 
hour. 

From  the  depths  of  the  cove  below,  this  field  on 
the  mountain  slope  was  visible  a  long  way.  Shattuck 
remembered  having  observed  it  as  a  dull,  light-tinted, 
tiny  square  in  the  midst  of  the  dense  primeval  woods 
that  encompassed  it.  Now  he  looked  with  interest 
to  identify  in  turn  the  landmarks  of  the  cove.  So 
purple  it  was  in  the  distance,  save  where  the  slopes 
rose  on  either  hand,  and  the  summits  of  the  forest 
grew  gradually  into  a  bronze  hue,  and  thence  to  the 
deep,  restful  green  of  the  full  summertide.  Far 
away  all  the  horizon  was  bounded  by  many  a  range 
and  peak,  painted  in  all  the  gradations  of  blue,  from 
a  dull,  blurred  tint  to  the  finest  turquoise  delicacy, 
and  rising  tier  upon  tier,  till  at  last  the  enamelled 
sky  limited  the  climbing  heights.  Here  and  there 
in  the  depths  below,  vague  lines  marked  where  the 
fences  ran.  A  tiny  curl  of  smoke  first  betokened 
the  Yatcs  cabin ;  he  saw  the  sun  strike  full  on  its 
shining  roof.  But  most  salient  of  all,  the  river 
gleamed- a  steely  gray  beneath  the  craggy  walls  of  the 
gorge,  and  the  cataract  danced  all  white  and  green, 
like  a  jewel  endowed  with  a  flashing  life.  This  only, 
in  the  sweet  serenity  and  peace  of  the  scene,  seemed 
to  move.  The  wind  came  and  went,  it  is  true,  but 
with  scant  token  of  its  presence ;  only  now  and 
again  a  suggestion  of  the  pallid  reverse  side  of  the 


198      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

leaves  bestreaked  the  mountain  slopes  and  marked 
its  path.  A  flock  of  sheep  feeding  in  a  brambly, 
rocky  space  were  as  motionless  as  a  pastoral  scene  on 
canvas.  Once  a  glow  of  an  intense  blood-bay  color 
struck  his  keen  eye,  and  made  him  aware  that  a  horse 
was  tethered  a  little  way  down  from  the  house ;  the 
sun  struck  upon  the  glossy  flank ;  then  the  animal 
slipped  into  the  deep  shadow,  and  was  seen  no 
more. 

None  of  this  had  Rhodes  observed.  His  eyes 
were  fixed  upon  the  two  brothers  as  they  lounged 
amongst  the  grass  and  weeds  in  the  fence  corner, 
culpably  overgrown  in  the  eyes  of  a  farmer,  but  cool 
and  sweet  in  the  dense  shade  of  the  buckeye-tree, 
and  with  sundry  long  tangled  vines  of  the  purple 
and  white  passion-flowers,  clear-eyed  in  the  grass, 
and  the  scarlet  trumpet-blossom  flaring  over  the 
staked  and  ridered  rail-fence.  There  could  hardly 
be  two  men  less  alike,  the  difference  accented  since 
they  were  both  bareheaded — the  one  with  his  grave, 
forceful  features,  at  once  sullen  and  sad,  his  long  curl 
ing  hair  hanging  on  the  shoulders  of  his  blue  cotton 
shirt ;  the  other  bullet-headed,  close-cropped,  with  a 
twinkling,  merry  eye,  a  propitiatory  expression,  a 
broad  face  that  would  look  young  even  when  it  should 
be  withered  and  wrinkled  like  a  shrivelled  apple,  and 
the  coarse  brown  tufty  hair  should  be  as  white  as 
snow.  The  latter  looked  up  with  a  ready-made,  ad 
justable  smile  as  Rhodes's  hearty  "  Howdy,  boys  ?" 
rang  upon  the  perfumed  air.  The  candidate  did  not 
wait  for  them  to  rise,  but  flung  himself  at  length 
into  the  sweet  grass,  taking  his  hat  oflE  his  head  and 
leaning  his  shoulders  against  the  big  buckeye-tree. 


COUNTRY.        199 

"Waal,  how  do  you-uns  do,  Mr.  Rhodes?"  said 
Ephraim,  with  smooth  cordiality.  "  How  be  you-uns 
a-kemin'  on  these  days  ?  A  month  o'  Sundays  sence 
we  hev  seen  ye." 

He  then  looked  quickly  at  his  brother,  with  an 
anxious  submission  of  his  conduct  for  the  fraternal 
approval.  For  Ephraim  Guthrie  labored  heavily  be 
tween  the  quick  geniality  of  a  mercurial  tempera 
ment,  a  lack  of  confidence  in  his  own  judgment,  and 
a  childlike  reliance  on  his  brother's  opinion  :  without 
its  coincidence  with  his  own  he  could  not  be  at  ease 
for  a  moment.  He  always  spoke  precipitately  on  the 
impulse  of  .the  first,  was  checked  by  the  second,  and 
waited  with  pathetic  anxiety  for  the  third.  He  was 
all  things  to  all  men,  and  this  vacillating  lack  of  con 
sistency  rendered  his  amiability  of  little  value  in  the 
estimation  of  the  candidate.  Rhodes  saw  with  dis 
appointment  the  other  brother,  the  valid  object  of 
conciliation,  rise,  after  a  mutter  of  salutation,  to  join 
Shattuck,  who,  with  a  nod  to  the  two,  had  turned 
away,  and  stood,  with  one  hand  in  his  pocket,  silently 
surveying  the  scene  below  him.  He  only  lifted  his 
eyes  slightly  in  recognition  of  Guthrie's  approach  as 
the  burly  young  mountaineer  drew  near  him,  and  it 
was  his  uncommunicative  host  who  spoke  first. 

"  Glad  ter  see  ye,  Mr.  Shattuck — glad  ter  see  ye  on 
the  mounting." 

Shattuck  divined  that  he  enjoyed  unusual  cordial 
ity  in  being  deemed  by  his  host  preferable  for  con 
versation  to  Rhodes.  The  injury  which  Guthrie  had 
inflicted  upon  the  candidate,  and  which  he  had  been 
thought  to  so  magnify,  recurred  to  his  mind,  with 
the  further  fact  that  it  was  no  accident.  Guthric 


200        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

evidently  still  cherished  the  motive  that  prompted  it, 
and  bore  malice.  It  was  intention  that  had  led  him 
to  leave  the  candidate  to  talk  to  the  plastic  younger 
brother  while  he  himself  held  aloof  under  the  guise 
of  joining  the  other  guest.  Nevertheless,  his  ear  was 
keen  for  the  conversation  between  the  two,  which  the 
crafty  Rhodes  may  have  in  part  designed  for  him, 
and  Shattuck  was  aware  that  it  was  only  a  divided 
attention  with  which  he  was  favored.  He  responded, 
however,  with  equal  courtesy. 

"  A  fine  view  you  have  here,  Mr.  Guthrie — a  very 
fine  view.  I  don't  know  its  equal  anywhere." 

Guthrie  glanced  quickly  at  him,  then  ran  his  eye 
over  the  scene,  with  the  effect  of  seeing  it  for  the 
first  time.  He  knew  no  other  aspect  of  the  world. 
It  had  never  occurred  to  him  that  the  lives  of  many 
other  people  were  not  bounded  by  these  fine  and 
massive  symmetries  of  mountain  ranges  in  every  ten 
der  phase  of  purest  color ;  by  infinite  distances,  chal 
lenging  the  capacities  of  farthest  vision ;  by  softest 
pastoral  suggestions  of  cove  and  slope ;  by  primeval 
wildernesses  and  stern  and  rugged  solemnities  of 
crags ;  by  phantasmal  chutes  of  Hying  mountain  tor 
rents.  His  sense  of  its  beauty  was  blunted  by  the 
daily  habit  of  its  presence;  paradoxically,  it  could 
be  brought  home  to  him  only  if  it  were  swept  away. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  uncertainly,  "  an'  we'd  hev  a  good 
lookout  fur  corn  ef  we  could  hev  mo'  rain."  And 
he  cast  a  weather  wise  eye  angrily  at  the  sky,  where 
all  the  clouds  seemed  gadding  abroad  a-pleasuring 
only,  and  with  no  idea  of  utility  as  they  dallied  with 
the  wind.  "  Not,"  he  added,  with  an  after-thought 
and  a  certain  precipitation,  as  if  he  were  afraid  that 


201 

the  remark  might  be  overheard,  and  forthwith  acted 
upon — "  not  ez  I.  want  ter  hev  enny  fallin'  weather 
nuther  till  we-uns  git  in  this  hyar  barley." 

The  differing  interests  of  his  crops  evidently  di 
vided  his  affections,  and  he  was  in  the  normal  con 
dition  of  the  farmer  disappointed  in  either  rain  or 
shine. 

They  stood  silent  for  a  moment  by  the  fence,  and 
as  Shattuck  turned  one  of  the  great  trumpet-flowers 
in  his  hand  and  looked  down  into  its  scarlet  horn, 
then  let  the  tendril  spring  back  elastically  into  its 
place,  Rhodes's  words  came  to  them  as  he  wrestled 
with  Eph  Guthrie's  presumable  political  persuasions 
against  him.  These  were  altogether  assumed  by  the 
candidate  for  the  purposes  of  argument,  for  which 
the  plastic  Eph  furnished  but  a  straw  man,  as  it 
were,  easily  knocked  down,  requiring  to  be  cleverly 
and  surreptitiously  picked  up  again  by  his  insistent 
opponent,  in  order  to  plant  still  more  well-delivered 
and  coercive  blows. 

"  Fee  'ain't  got  no  grudge  against  me,  I  know," 
Rhodes  was  saying.  "  /  don't  bear  no  malice  for  a 
little  tussle  like  that,  and  I  know  Fee  don't." 

"  How  ye  know  he  don't  ?" 

Shattuck  was  startled  by  hearing  this  sotto  voce 
comment  upon  the  dialogue  by  Fee  in  person  close 
to  his  elbow.  He  turned  and  looked  at  the  man, 
seeking  to  convey  in  the  glance  an  intimation  that 
he  had  spoken  his  thought  aloud  and  that  it  had 
been  overheard.  Felix  Guthrie  evidently  cared  as 
little  as  might  be.  His  eyes  met  Shattuck's  un 
abashed. 

"  Fee  ain't  in  no  wise  malicious,"  Eph  piped  up. 


202       IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY. 

"  I  know  it — I  know  that — no  man  better,"  Rhodes 
interrupted  him  promptly,  for  he  knew  that  Eph 
could  talk  by  the  yard  measure  on  the  subject  of  his 
brother's  perfections,  so  close  was  the  fraternal  bond. 
"  I  know  Fee  can't  bear  malice.  I  like  Fee,  and  Fee 
likes  me,  and  won't  do  a  thing  against  me — not  a 
thing !" 

"  Waal,  ye  better  not  be  too  sure  o'  that,"  the 
voice  at  Shattuck's  elbow  said,  in  that  suppressed, 
significant  soliloquy. 

Shattuck,  embarrassed  by  these  confidences  in 
prejudice  to  his  friend's  loudly  expressed  conclu 
sions,  was  about  to  turn  away,  when  Outline's  hand 
was  laid  upon  his  arm. 

"  Stranger,"  he  said,  his  head  with  his  big  broad 
hat  and  its  clinging  curls  bent  forward,  "don't  it 
'pear  a  sorter  cur'ous  dispensation  to  you-uns  that 
that  man  yander  b'lieves  so  what  he  say  whenst  it 
air  in  my  heart  ter  kill  him — yes,  sir,  ter  kill  him  ! — 
if  he  war  ter  interfere  with  me  ?" 

"  What !"  said  Shattuck,  uneasily  feigning.  "  Do 
you  want  to  go  to  the  Legislature  too  ?" 

"  Legislatur'  be  damned  !"  said  the  other,  in  a  deep 
husky  tone,  and  with  a  meeting  of  the  straight  heavy 
eyebrows  above  his  intent  eyes.  "  I  ain't  keerin'  a 
minit's  breath  'bout'n  the  kentry  an'  sech.  But  ef 
he  interferes  with  me  'bout — 'bout  Letishy  Pettin- 
gill,  his  life  ain't  wuth  much  purchase — not,"  he 
shook  his  head  with  a  formidable  look  in  his  eye, 
"  much  purchase." 

Shattuck  was  roused  to  a  sense  of  danger.  lie 
had  already  interfered  too  much,  and  with  disastrous 
results,  in  his  friend's  interests  ;  but  here  was  a  peril 


"  '  VKS,   SIR,  TKR   KIM.    HIM   KK   HE    WAU   TKIl   INTKUKKKK    WITH    MK 


IN  THE  "  6TRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.    203 

so  patent,  so  immediate,  that  it  was  a  most  obvious 
duty  to  seek  to  diminish  the  menace.  "  You  mus'n't 
be  disposed  to  lay  too  much  blame  on  Rhodes,"  he 
said.  "  She  mightn't  like  either  one  of  you,  but 
somebody  else." 

"  Who's  he  ?"  demanded  Guthrie,  breathlessly, 
with  an  evident  instantaneous  transferrence  of  the 
intention  of  vengeance  and  the  pangs  of  anxiety  to 
this  myth. 

"  /  don't  know.  Do  you  suppose  she  told  me  ? 
Women  don't  tell  these  things  ;  that's  one  of  their 
little  ways." 

Guthrie  drew  a  long  sigh.  "  An'  a  mighty  mean 
way  too,"  he  commented. 

"  And  men  are  not  often  more  communicative," 
Shattuck  dexterously  equalized  the  balance.  "  Mr. 
Rhodes  hasn't  talked  to  me  on  the  subject,  but  I 
think  I  might  undertake  to  say  for  him  that  he 
doesn't  want  to  interfere  with  you  in  that  quarter." 

"  He  did  the  night  o'  the  infair  at  PettingilFs," 
the  slow  mountaineer  argued,  with  a  swift  applica 
tion  of  logic. 

"  Oh,  pshaw !  he  didn't  want  to  *  dance  Tucker,' 
that's  all,"  said  Shattuck,  with  a  laugh,  and  once 
more  seeking  to  turn  away. 

Guthrie's  hand  closed  upon  his  arm  ;  his  eyes  were 
on  the  stretch  of  barley,  bending  and  swaying  as  the 
wind  swept  through  its  pliant  blades,  and  shoaling 
from  an  argentine  glister  to  green,  and  from  green 
again  to  elusive  silver  glintings — what  time  the  cove 
below  was  dark  and  purple  and  blurred,  as  a  great 
white  cloud  hung,  dazzling  and  opaque,  high,  high 
in  the  sky,  and,  as  it  passed,  the  valley  grew  gradu- 


204      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

ually  into  distinctness  again,  with  the  privilege  of 
the  sunshine  and  the  freedom  of  the  wind,  and  all 
its  landmarks  asserted  anew. 

"  Stranger,"  Felix  said,  lowering  his  tone,  "  she 
made  ch'ice  o'  him  stiddier  me.  /  hed  the  right  ter 
dance  with  her,  an'  she  made  ch'ice  o'  him." 

"  What  of  it  ?  That  happens  every  day ;  a  woman 
prefers  one  man  to  another.  'Tisn't  worth  a  quarrel." 

"  'Pears  ter  me  it's  better  wuth  Idllin'  a  man  fur 
than  all  the  other  quar'ls  that  men  die  in  daily." 

Shattuck,  looking  into  those  vehement  eyes,  felt  an 
uncomfortable  chill  stealing  along  his  spinal  column, 
hearing  all  the  time  Rhodes's  hearty  voice  as  he  lay 
all  unconscious  on  the  grass,  and  held  forth  to  the 
acquiescent,  utterly  unimportant  Ephraim. 

"  Would  that  make  her  like  you  any  better  if  she 
liked  him  ?" 

Guthrie's  eyes  turned  ponderingly  away  to  the 
roof  gleaming  in  the  cove  that  sheltered  her  at  the 
moment. 

Shattuck  took  confidence.  "  That  isn't  the  way  to 
make  her  like  you,  and  that's  what  you  want." 

"  Hain't  Rhodes  been  thar  lately  ?"  demanded 
Guthrie.  "  I  axed  her,  but  she  hev  got  sech  a  tor- 
mentin'  way  she  wouldn't  tell  me." 

"  Only  to  talk  to  Mrs.  Yates,  and  see  if  he  could 
do  anything  to  help  her  to  hear  from  her  husband. 
Oh,  Rhodes  would  like  Letitia  a  deal  better  if  she 
could  vote  for  him.  He  would  go  to  see  her  every 
day  then,  you  might  be  sure." 

Guthrie  cast  a  glance  of  frowning  contempt  over 
his  shoulder  at  Rhodes ;  then,  with  a  sudden  change 
of  tone,  he  said :  "  I  hev  been  mightily  troubled  in 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      205 

my  mind  lately  'bout'n  him.  I  war  fitten  ter  hope 
in  my  heart  ez  he  wouldn't  git  well,  though  I  hev 
been  layin'  off  ter  repent  some,  fur  I  know  that  ain't 
well  pleasin'  ter  the  Sperit.  I  wouldn't  hold  Rhodes 
no  gredge  ef  'twarn't  fur  her.  An'  though  she 
showed  she  hcd  ruther  dance  with  him  than  with  me, 
she  don't  'pear  ter  like  him  noways  special.  An' 
sometimes  I  feel  like  I  ought  ter  make  myse'f 
easy." 

The  pitiable  vacillations  of  a  lover's  hopes  and 
fears  appealed  to  Shattuck.  The  strength  of  the 
man's  will,  the  sternness,  almost  savagery,  of  his 
character,  added  a  force  to  all  that  he  said,  not  les 
sened  by  Shattuck's  knowledge  of  the  object  of 
his  affections,  or,  rather,  that  upon  that  aerial  and 
whimsical  identity  little  knowledge  was  predicable. 
His  disposition  was  to  reassure,  to  soothe. 

"  Oh,  you  may  indeed  make  yourself  easy  as  far 
as  Rhodes  is  concerned,"  he  insisted.  "  Rhodes  is 
thinking  about  nothing  in  this  world  but  his  election, 
and  you  ought  to  show  a  generous,  friendly  spirit, 
and  vote  for  him,  and  let  by-gones  be  by-gones." 

"  Oh,  Lord  !  I'd  jes'  ez  soon  vote  him  inter  a  seat 
'mongst  the  choir  o'  archangels  ez  not — though  he'd 
look  mighty  comical  thar,  I'm  a-thinkin' — ef  I  war 
sure  ez  he  warn't  gittin'  ahead  o'  me  'bout  Litt  Pet- 
tingill." 

He  sighed  deeply,  and  cast  an  absorbed,  unseeing 
glance  over  the  landscape.  Ilis  strong  brawny  hand, 
still  on  Shattuck's  arm,  trembled  slightly. 

"  I  ain't  like  other  men,  stranger.  I  never  loved 
nobody  but  her  in  all  my  life.  Hate  hev  been  my 
portion.  Hard  licks  hev  been  my  policy,  an7  the 


206       IN    THE 

more  ye  air  ready  ter  give,  the  less  ye  hev  ter  take. 
That's  the  way  the  world  goes." 

And  Shattuck  could  not  gainsay  this  dictum  of  the 
mountain  philosopher,  albeit  the  world  from  which 
he  deduced  this  cogent  truth  was  but  the  breadth  of 
the  cove. 

"  Ephraim  I  hed  ter  stan'  up  fur,  bein'  ez  he  war 
so  all-fired  helpless  whenst  small,  but  it  air  sorter  of 
a  habit  o'  takin'  keer  o'  him  an'  speakin'  him  fair, 
account  o'  other  folks  treatin'  him  mean;  I  never 
sure  enough  keered  fur  him — though  I  don't  want 
him  ter  hear  me  say  that,  nuther.  I  never  knowed 
what  love  meant  till  I  tuk  ter  dreamin'  'bout  Litt  all 
night  an'  studyin'  'bout  her  all  day.  An'  I  do  swear 
it's  in  my  heart  ter  kill  enny  man  ez  kerns  atwixt  us." 

"  Well,  'tisn't  Rhodes,"  Shattuck  declared,  easily. 
"  And  to  that  I'd  be  willing  to  take  my  oath." 

"  Ye  see,  stranger,  I  be  mightily  afflicted,"  said 
Fee  Guthrie,  and  his  strong  voice  trembled. 

"  You  don't  look  like  it,  my  friend,"  returned 
Shattuck,  with  a  smile. 

"  Oh,  I  am  /"  cried  the  other,  with  a  poignant  in 
tonation.  "  Even  ef  Rhodes  warn't  ahead  of  me, 
an'  ef  she  liked  me,  she  moughtn't  be  willin*  ter 
marry  me.  Some  wimmen  wouldn't.  I  hev  got  that 
step-mam  o'  mine  ter  take  keer  of ;  many  a  gal 
wouldn't  'gree  ter  'bide  with  her.  An'  I  can't  leave 
her !" 

Shattuck,  tiring  but  a  moment  ago,  felt  a  freshen 
ing  of  interest.  "  Why,"  he  said,  "  I  have  heard 
that  she  was  unkind  to  you  and  your  brother  when 
you  were  children." 

"  Onkind  !     Lord !  that  warn't  the  word  fur  it  till 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        207 

I  got  the  strength  ter  be  more  onkind  ter  her.  But 
she  don't  own  nuthin'.  She  'ain't  got  nuthin'  ter 
live  on.  I  promised  my  dad  ter  support  her." 

There  was  a  pause. 

"  Stranger,  folks  tell  a  heap  o'  tales  on  her.  They 
'low  she  killed  her  fust  husband,  an'  hev  'witched 
folks,  and  casts  the  evil  eye.  She  wouldn't  be  safe. 
Ef  'twarn't  fur  my  dad  fust,  an'  then  fur  me,  she'd 
hev  been  made  ter  answer  ter  the  folks  in  the  cove 
fur  her  deeds.  But  the  Guthries  hev  the  name  o' 
shootin'  mighty  straight.  So  she  hev  been  lef  ter 
be." 

There  was  another  pause  while  he  took  off  his  hat 
and  fanned  himself  with  its  broad  brim.  With  it 
still  in  his  hand  he  resumed :  "  She  'witched  my  dad, 
I  reckon,  ter  git  him  ter  marry  her,  though  folks 
said  she  war  good-lookin'  in  them  days.  An'  dad 
ez  good  ez  'witched  me ;  it's  an  evil  spell  he  flung 
around  me,  sure.  I  knowed  what  he  war  goin'  ter 
ax  me  on  his  death-bed  ;  I  jcs'  knowed  it  in  all  my 
veins,  in  every  drap  o'  blood.  The  doctor  said  he 
couldn't  live  fur  twelve  hours  more.  An'  I  got  on 
my  horse  an'  I  rid  away.  I  rid  fur  an'  I  rid  con 
stant,  an'  when  the  horse  couldn't  git  along  no  fur- 
der  I  rested  under  a  tree.  I  rid  fur  forty-eight 
hours — mind  ye,  the  doctor  said  twelve — an'  at  last  I 
'lowed  'twar  safe  ter  kern  home.  I  kem.  An'  thar, 
propped  up  in  the  bed,  war  the  skeleton  o'  a  man 
with  Death's  hand  on  his  throat,  \vaitin'  fur  me  an' 
fur  my  promise — an'  Death  waitin'  too.  I  reckon 
Death  tuk  right  smart  pleasure  in  that  rninit — he 
knowed  he  got  us  both  through  that  promise,  fur 
life  couldn't  mean  nuthin'  fur  me  arterward.  An' 


208        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

somcliow,  though  I  hed  fled  that  promise,  I  couldn't 
holp  makin'  it.  How  kin  ye  look  in  a  dyin'  man's 
eyes  an'  deny  him?  I  promised  I'd  bide  with  her 
an'  take  keer  of  her  ez  long  ez  she  should  live.  He 
war  dead  in  a  minit.  He  jes'  waited  till  the  words 
passed  my  lips.  An'  ho  looked  at  me.  An'  then  he 
fell  back  dead." 

Shattuck  was  silent.  Even  his  facile  optimism 
was  at  fault  for  the  nonce.  And  after  another  long- 
drawn  sigh  Felix  went  on  : 

"  'Tain't  made  my  life  easy.  I  knowed  that  minit 
I  went  into  chains,  fur  a  promise  tcr  the  dead  ain't 
like  one  ter  the  livin'.  An'  though  I  owe  her  nuth- 
in'  but  gredges,  both  fur  me  an'  Ephraim,  'tain't  in 
gredges  I  be  'lowed  ter  pay  the  debt.  I  never 
knowed  the  weight  of  it,  though,  till  I  met  that 
thar  leetle  snip  o'  a  gal.  'Pears  ter  me  Litt  ain't 
like  nobody  that  ever  lived  afore ;  the  very  way  she 
turns  her  head  air  diffent,  an'  the  hair  grows  on  it 
not  similar  ter  none.  Folks  round  about  the  moun 
tings  say  she  ain't  good-lookin',  but  her  face  shines 
ter  me  in  the  darkest  night." 

"  She  is — she  is  beautiful,  and  the  rarest  type  of 
beauty,"  cried  Shattuck,  warmly ;  "  she  is  unique. 
She  would  be  considered  most  beautiful  anywhere 
else." 

Guthrie  turned  upon  him  a  face  aglow  with  grati 
fication.  "  That's  what  makes  me  like  you-uns, 
stranger,"  he  said,  cordially.  "  Ye  'pear  ter  sense 
things  so.  But  I  war  set  agin  ye  some,  at  fust, 
kriowin'  ye  ter  be  Rhodes's  friend,"  he  added,  frank 
ly.  "  She  likes  ye  too,  Litt  do.  The  t'other  night 
whenst  I  war  visitin'  thar  she  talked  ter  Mis'  Yates 


209 

an'  me  an'  Baker  Anderson  'bout  nuthin'  in  this 
worP  but  you-uns,  an'  how  smart  an'  perlite  ye  be, 
an'  book-1'arned,  an'  diff'ent  from  them  in  the  cove." 

Shattuck  received  this  with  a  vague,  indeterminate 
thrill,  which  he  did  not  then  discriminate  as  pre 
monition,  but  which  he  remembered  afterward. 

Guthrie  was  beset  by  no  suspicion.  "  Lord  !"  he 
exclaimed,  his  face  fervent  and  flushed,  "  ef  I  could 
take  that  thar  leetle  gal's  hand  in  mine  ter  walk 
through  this  life,  I  could  make  the  journey  well 
pleasin'  ter  the  Lord,  though  I  don't  reckon  I'd  keer 
whether  'twar  heaven  or  hell  arterwards.  'Twould 
make  up  ter  me  fur  all  the  troubles  I  hev  hed  in  this 
life.  An'  they  ain't  a  few — they  ain't  a  few.  But  I 
be  powerful  hampered,  powerful  hampered,  stranger, 
even  ef  I  warn't  so  all-fired  'feared  o'  Rhodes.  She 
never  would  abide  ter  live  along  o'  my  step-mam,  an'  I 
can't  leave  her.  I  hev  swore  a  oath  ter  the  dead." 
Then  he  seemed  to  shake  off  his  fears.  "  It's  done 
me  good  ter  talk  so  free.  I  couldn't  hev  done  it — 
ter  a  stranger  too — 'ceptin'  I  knowed  what  store  Litt 
set  by  ye,  an'  how  smart  she  'lows  ye  air." 

Once  again  that  vague  prophetic  disquiet  thrilled 
along  Shattuck's  nerves.  Felix  had  put  his  hat  again 
upon  his  head ;  his  face  was  softened  with  a  remi 
niscent  smile,  as  his  eyes  dwelt  upon  the  furthest 
blue  peaks,  most  illusory  semblances  of  mountains, 
faint  sublimations  of  azure,  refined  almost  to  nullity, 
upon  the  horizon. 

"  T'other  night,  what  time  she  could  spare  from 

tormentin'  Baker  Anderson — an'  she  do  make  him 

funny  enough  ter  set  a  horse  a-laffin' — she  spent  in 

tellin'  them  cur'ous  tales  ye  hev  set  a-goin'  'bout  the 

14 


210     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

folks  ez  war  in  this  kentry  'fore  the  Injuns.  An' 
Baker  axed  ef  them  Phoenicians  warn't  jes'  the 
Fcd'ral  army.  He  'peared  ter  think  cz  ye  hcdn't 
got  the  news  o'  the  War  yit.  It  liked  ter  hev  killed 
Litt.  She  couldn't  quit  laffin'.  But  she  tuck  Mis' 
Yates  up  mighty  short  'bout  the  Leetle  People,  an' 
'lowed  ye  didn't  want  ter  examinate  thar  graves 
fur  gain,  but  fur  knowledge  fur  the  hist'ry  o'  the 
kentry." 

And  suddenly  Shattuck's  eyes  were  alight.  He 
took  instant  advantage  of  this  unexpected  recruit 
to  the  ranks  of  scientific  investigation.  "  She  was 
exactly  right,  and  shows  her  common-sense.  And  I 
wish,  Fee  " — he  adopted  a  cordial  familiarity  of  tone 
in  his  anxiety — "  you  would  take  that  view  yourself, 
and  let  me  examine  one  or  two  of  those  graves." 

Guthric  evidently  experienced  an  inward  struggle. 
He  was  divided  between  a  sincere  attraction  which 
he  felt  toward  the  stranger,  a  wish  to  please,  and  a 
repugnant  reluctance  into  which  conscience  —  his 
queer,  distorted,  backwoods  conscience  —  entered 
largely. 

"  I  couldn't  let  ye  tote  the  bones  off,  even  ef  they 
air  prehistoric."  He  thought  the  word  signified 
some  sect  different  from  Baptist  or  Methodist,  and 
heterodox  enough  to  forfeit  the  sanctity  of  sepul 
chre,  since  he  had  heard  it  so  often  urged  by  Shat- 
tuck,  in  extenuation  of  his  wish  to  examine  the 
graves.  "  I  couldn't  do  that.  He  mought  not  like 
it  whenst  he  wakes  on  the  jedgmint-day  ter  find  his 
bones  in  a  strange  place  ;  he  mought  never  hev  been 
out'n  Tennessee  in  his  life,  an'  not  be  'quainted  with 
nobody  risin'  at  the  same  time  'round  him.  But  ye 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        211 

may  open  one  grave,  an'  " — he  relented  still  further, 
looking  into  Shattuck's  eyes,  eagerly  fixed  upon  him 
— "  an'  ef  he  hev  got  a  jug  like  the  one  I  seen,  I'll  let 
ye  hev  it,  an',"  his  brows  grew  anxious  with  the  de 
vising  of  the  expedient,  "  I'll  loan  him  a  pitcher  from 
the  house,  so  he'll  hev  one,  though  the  Lord  only 
knows  what  he  wants  with  it,  an'  mebbe  at  the  las' 
day  he  will  hev  forgot,  an'  won't  know  the  diff'ence." 

"  I  won't  take  the  jug,"  said  Shattuck,  suddenly 
infected  with  the  reluctance  to  rifle  the  sarcophagus, 
so  strong  amongst  the  mountaineers,  so  alien  to  the 
man  of  science.  The  forgotten  relics  lying  there  in 
that  long  rest  became  all  at  once,  through  Guthrie's 
homely  speech,  individualized,  invested  with  the 
rights  of  property,  the  sense  of  a  past  and  the  cer 
tainty  of  a  future,  humanized  as  a  man  and  a  brother, 
rather  than  a  system  of  bones  that  might,  ethnologi- 
cally  considered,  establish  or  disprove  a  theory,  its 
manner  of  burial  less  significant  of  the  universal 
doom  of  death  and  the  hope  of  resurrection  than  of 
the  civilization  of  the  race  and  the  fashion  of  the 
day.  "  I  won't  take  the  jug.  I  only  want  to  see 
what  this  widespread  story  of  prehistoric  pygmy 
dwellers  in  Tennessee  rests  upon.  That  is  all.  I 
think  they  must  be  children — these  Little  People.  I 
won't  take  the  jug." 

Guthrie's  face  cleared  instantly.  "  Waal " — he 
drew  a  long  breath — "  I'm  glad  o'  that.  Fur  ef  they 
air  chil'n,  he  mought  set  mo'  store  on  his  jug  an'  his 
beads  'n  on  his  soul's  salvation.  I  don't  see  cz  it 
could  hurt  ter  jes'  lift  up  the  top  stone  an'  set  it 
back  agin.  Bein'  cz  it's  you-uns,  I'll  resk  it  enny- 
hows." 


212    IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY. 

The  opportunity  of  investigating  this  most  unique 
myth,  originating  how  and  where  no  man  can  tell,  of 
which  so  much  has  been  so  diversely  written  and 
said,  caused  every  sentiment  of  the  archaeologist  to 
glow  within  him.  In  this  secluded  region  it  was 
hardly  probable  that  the  tread  of  science  had  ever 
before  pressed  the  turf  of  the  pygmy  bury  ing-ground. 
He  should  be  able  to  speak  from  actual  experience. 
There  was  no  doubt  concerning  the  spot.  And  all 
the  country-side  confirmed  the  tradition  with  singu 
lar  unanimity,  with  one  voice.  Every  detail  was  full 
of  interest ;  the  very  method  of  coffining — the  six 
slabs  of  stone  in  the  shallow  graves,  the  strange 
weavings  and  material  of  the  shrouding  rugs  and 
mats,  the  ornaments,  the  weapons,  the  jugs  with  the 
sea-shells  within — what  rich  intimations  of  the  in 
dustrial  status,  the  civilization  of  these  people  of  the 
pygmy  myth !  Ah,  here  indeed  was  history  in  its 
most  unimpugnable  form  !  These  tokens  should  balk 
oblivion,  and  truth  prevail  even  in  the  grave. 


X. 

SHATTUCK  turned  with  an  excited,  flushed  face 
and  his  eyes  triumphant.  He  had  no  intuition  of 
Rhodes's  anxious,  disconcerted  frame  of  mind,  for 
the  candidate  was  seized  by  a  sudden  fear  that  he 
was  to  have  no  opportunity  to  confer  with  Felix 
Guthrie  anent  the  living  issues  of  the  election.  His 
long  ride  had  been  taken  with  scant  result,  indeed,  to 
flatter  an  old  woman  and  to  loll  on  the  grass  with 
the  acquiescent  younger  brother,  who  would  not  hesi 
tate  to  rescind  the  promise  of  support  he  had  made 
if  he  fancied  that  it  fell  under  the  disapproval  of 
Felix.  Rhodes  had  had  no  idea  that  the  colloquy 
would  be  so  soon  terminated.  He  scrambled  sheep 
ishly  to  his  feet  as  the  others  precipitately  passed, 
oblivious  of  the  two  under  the  tree. 

"  Hello  !  Hold  on  !"  cried  Rhodes.  "  Where  are 
you  making  off  to  ?" 

Guthrie  turned  an  absorbed  face  upon  him,  con 
tinuing  what  he  was  saying,  but  including  him  in 
the  invitation  extended  to  Shattuck  to  come  to  the 
house  for  refreshment  for  themselves  and  their 
horses  before  beginning  the  descent  of  the  moun 
tain. 

"  We  hev  had  dinner  long  ago,  but  I  know  mam 
kin  git  ye  up  some  sorter  snack  ter  hearten  ye  up, 
an'  ye  kin  leastwise  take  a  drink  'long  o'  Eph  an' 


214     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

me.  An'  I'll  loan  ye  a  pickaxe  an'  a  spade,  an' 
saddle  my  bcastis,  an'  holp  ye  go  an'  dig." 

It  seemed  to  Rhodes  unpardonable  that  his  friend 
should  be  so  forgetful  of  the  interests  of  the  elec 
tion,  for  the  allusion  to  the  pickaxe  and  spade, 
coupled  with  his  previous  knowledge  of  Shattuck's 
chief  absorption,  was  enough  to  acquaint  him  with 
the  nature  of  the  business  in  progress.  The  color 
had  diffused  itself  over  his  handsome  face  to  the 
roots  of  his  brown  hair,  and  his  eyes  were  surprised 
and  perturbed  as  he  mechanically  glanced  about  his 
attire,  picking  here  and  there  a  clinging  barley  straw 
from  his  garments.  He  contrived,  on  joining  the 
others,  to  walk  abreast  with  them,  and  thus  end  the 
burdensome  dialogue  with  Eph,  who,  in  no  degree 
offended  by  his  defection  and  accustomed  to  slight 
consideration,  lagged  cheerfully  in  the  rear,  chewing 
a  straw  with  abnormal  activity  of  jaw,  his  hat  pushed 
far  back  from  his  broad,  sunburned,  fleshy  face,  his 
gait  shambling  and  awkward,  as  if  he  still  were  in 
the  furrow. 

Rhodes,  however  willingly  he  might  have  balked 
his  friend's  preference  in  the  choice  of  a  subject  of 
conversation,  could  hardly  intimate  with  impunity 
that  the  enlightened  voter,  whose  suffrage  he  coveted, 
held  forth  upon  a  theme  which  he  considered  trivial 
and  to  the  last  degree  irksome.  Nevertheless,  as  he 
walked  along  in  the  glare  of  the  sun  upon  the  for 
ever  shoaling  waves  of  the  silver-green  grain,  and 
listened  to  Guthrie  droning  forth  his  slowly  forming 
purposes  concerning  the  arrangements  for  the  in 
vestigation  of  the  pygmy  graves,  his  irritation  that 
the  primary  intention  of  his  visit  should  be  frus- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     215 

tratcd,  and  the  interest  appertaining  to  his  candidacy 
ruthlessly  thrust  aside,  so  increased  that  he  set  him 
self  to  devise  an  expedient  whereby  he  might  safely 
disparage  the  matter  in  hand,  and  thus  reassert  the 
significance  of  his  presence  and  the  propriety  of  his 
prominence  as  guest.  He  turned  his  head  suddenly, 
archly  lifting  his  eyebrows,  and  distending  his  eyes 
with  a  burlesque  of  amazement;  then  breaking  into 
his  joyous  "  ha !  ha !"  he  clapped  Guthrie  jocosely 
on  the  shoulder. 

"  Lordy  mercy,  Fee !"  he  exclaimed,  "  you  don't 
mean  to  say  that  Shattuck  is  devil-ing  you  about  his 
confounded  Little  People !  Stave  him  off !  Gag 
him  !  Shut  him  up  somehow.  Don't  listen  to  him, 
thinking  he'll  quit  in  the  course  of  time.  For  he 
won't!  I've  tried  him.  The  more  inches  you  give 
him  the  more  ells  he'll  take." 

Mr.  Rhodes  had  a  theory  that  culture  is  synony 
mous  with  mind  and  essentially  coexistent.  That 
each  assists  the  other,  no  one  will  deny ;  but  that 
they  arc  often  largely  independent,  one  of  the  other, 
is  frequently  demonstrated.  The  man  of  more  cult 
ure  than  capacity  is  painfully  familiar  to  us  all.  In 
the  rural  districts  the  reverse  may  sometimes  be  ob 
served —  a  stalwart  mental  endowment,  unaided  by 
aught  of  alien  training,  seeming  occasionally,  in  its 
highest  development  and  in  an  uncouth  subject,  so 
incongruous  as  to  strike  one  as  almost  inspirational. 

It  was  none  of  these  rare  native  intelligences,  full- 
winged  and  of  strong  flight,  that  Felix  Guthrie  pos 
sessed  ;  only  a  good  plodding  capacity,  serviceable 
afoot,  but  of  much  sturdiness,  and  indeed  of  some 
slight  acrobatic  activity.  Rhodes  was  more  taken 


216      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

aback  than  lie  had  thought  possible  when  his  host, 
bending  grave,  disconcerting  eyes  upon  him,  said : 

"  It  war  me  a-talkin'  about  the  Leetle  People.  Yer 
ears  didn't  serve  ye  right,  fur  me  an'  Mr.  Shattuck 
don't  talk  in  no  ways  alike.  Them  Leetle  People 
'pear  ter  me  ez  well  wuth  talkin'  'bout  ez  some  folks 
ez  be  bigger  in  stature  but  small-minded.  Thar  air 
a  heap  o'  them  leetle-big  men  lef  yit.  So  plenty 
'tain't  wuth  while  ter  go  diggin'  'em  up  ez  cur'osities 
whenst  dead." 

There  was  no  direct  implication  which  of  necessity 
conveyed  offence,  but  Rhodes  again  flushed  darkly, 
and  his  expression  changed  with  the  change  of  color. 
His  regret  had  always  that  most  nettling  quality,  self- 
reproach.  No  man  can  repent  with  the  fervor  of  him 
who  has  the  candor  to  blame  himself.  After  an 
interval  of  tart  internal  colloquy  with  his  inner  con 
sciousness,  in  which  he  called  -himself  a  fool,  with 
the  emphatic  prefix  of  a  certain  strong  old  adjective, 
unhackneyed  even  by  constant  use,  and  upbraided 
himself  that  he  should  have  supposed  that  Guthrie, 
like  more  simple-minded,  ignorant  men,  would  adopt 
his  plausible  words  instead  of  the  facts,  he  recovered 
in  some  degree  his  normal  complexion  and  assurance, 
and  responded  glibly : 

"  Mountain  air  is  mighty  good  for  Shattuck  if  it's 
cured  him  of  his  crazy  gabble  about  the  Leetle  Peo 
ple.  Ha  !  ha  I  ha  !  Hey,  Shattuck  ?  I'll  send  him 
up 'here  every  few  days,  Fee,  when  the  fit  begins  to 
come  on  again.  You  can  hobble  him  out  there  in 
the  orchard  to  keep  him  from  running  away.  Ha ! 
ha !  ha !  May  get  his  wits  back  on  your  mountain 
air.  For  I  swear  to  you  he  has  said  hardly  a  sane 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.       217 

thing  to  me  since  he  first  heard  there  was  any  pygmy 
burying-ground  round  hereabouts.  Ha  !  ha !  ha  !" 

Guthrie  did  not  laugh,  nor  did  Shattuck ;  but 
Ephraim,  trudging  in  the  rear,  strove  to  be  polite  as 
best  he  knew  how,  and  added  a  guffaw  to  the  forced 
laugh  of  the  visitor,  with  whom  no  one  else  would 
consent  to  be  merry. 

Rhodes  accorded  no  overt  attention  to  their  si 
lence  ;  but  his  eyes,  the  iris  of  each  somehow  like  a 
darkly  ripe  cherry  in  a  certain  red  lustre,  albeit 
merely  escaping  blackness,  like  a  cherry  too  in  its 
definite  pronounced  effect  of  roundness,  were  rest 
less  and  unnoticing,  and  as  Shattuck  caught  their 
gleam  they  looked  angry  and  hot. 

Shattuck  was  one  of  those  people  who  accept  the 
Biblical  injunction  touching  the  forgiveness  of  in 
juries,  but  in  a  purely  human  way.  He  would  not 
revenge  himself,  for  this  was  not  becoming  in  one 
acquainted  in  some  sort  with  Christianity,  nor  did  it 
comport  with  the  dignity  of  a  gentleman.  But  he 
could  not  forget.  He  resented  Rhodes's  apparently 
causeless  anger  toward  him  now,  and  it  recalled  the 
disagreements  of  the  morning,  which  still  galled  him. 
The  stay  that  he  had  made  here,  pleasant  enough  he 
had  once  deemed  it,  grew  irksome  in  the  recollection, 
in  the  light  of  these  new  relations  with  his  host. 
He  was  saying  to  himself  that  it  was  time  he  was 
off ;  he  was  tired  of  it  all,  and  Rhodes  was  insuffer 
able.  He  had  no  mind  to  bear  the  brunt  of  all 
the  mishaps  and  irritation  of  electioneering,  and  this 
was  indeed  a  lucky  ride,  since  on  the  eve  of  depart 
ure  it  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  examining  the 
sarcophagi  of  the  so-called  pygrnies  at  once  and 


218      IN  THE   "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

with  the  permission  and  aid  of  the  man  who  owned 
the  land.  He  had  not  realized  how  definitely  he  had 
given  up  this  hope  until  the  expectation  was  before 
him  again  in  so  immediate  a  guise.  It  would  have 
been  an  incalculable  loss  to  have  relinquished  the 
chance,  and  quitted  the  region  no  wiser  than  he 
came.  His  step  was  light,  his  face  was  sharp  and 
eager ;  he  looked  anxiously  toward  the  west  as  they 
neared  the  house,  to  gain  some  intimation  through 
the  trees  how  the  sun  fared  down  the  great  glisten 
ing  concave  of  the  western  sky.  The  hour  mattered 
less  to  him  than  the  duration  of  the  light. 

He  was  hardly  less  impatient  of  interruption  than 
Rhodes  had  become,  and,  widely  at  variance  though 
the  subjects  were  that  respectively  absorbed  them, 
they  both  saw  with  unanimity  of  sentiment  that  Mrs. 
Guthrie,  standing  in  the  doorway,  had  a  knitted 
angry  brow,  and  a  mien  which  betokened  that  they 
were  far  enough  from  her  contemplation,  and  that 
topics  of  an  engrossing  character  were  in  her  mind 
and  framing  themselves  into  speech.  The  pervasive 
green  tint,  which  seemed  a  trait  of  the  very  atmos 
phere  in  this  dankly  shady  spot,  rendered  her  white 
hair  even  whiter,  her  gray  gown,  her  blue  checked 
apron,  on  which  she  mechanically  wiped  her  spec 
tacles,  more  distinct.  Her  face  was  deeply  furrowed 
with  its  frown,  and  there  was  something  about  her 
heavy  jaw,  her  half -parted  thin  lips,  her  pertinacious 
eye,  that  gave  testimony  to  establish  the  terrible 
stories  that  were  told  about  her. 

"  Fee,"  she  said,  in  a  strained  harsh  voice,  as  soon 
as  they  were  well  within  car-shot,  not  waiting  for  a 
nearer  approach,  "  I  hev  got  bad  news  fur  ye." 


IN    THE 


"  I  mought  hcv  knowed  it,"  her  step-son  responded, 
promptly.  He  looked  at  her  with  a  reluctant  face, 
as  if  by  postponing  to  give  audience  to  the  new  dis 
aster  he  nullified  it.  He  evidently  held  the  fear  of 
an  unknown  calamity  as  less  than  its  realization. 
There  was  manifested  none  of  the  usual  impulse  to 
fling  one's  self  upon  the  point  of  the  sword  held  out. 
He  knew  too  much  already  of  that  sharp  edge  of 
trouble.  His  many  words,  his  dallying  with  the  im 
minent  discovery,  bore  an  odd  contrast  to  her  silence, 
her  intent  ready  gaze,  her  expectant  waiting  attitude. 
"  I  never  knowed  ye  ter  hev  enny  other  sorter  news. 
Bad  news  follers  me.  Ef  I  war  ter  go  ter  the  eends 
o'  the  yearth — plumb  ter  Texas — I'd  meet  a  man 
thar  with,  '  Fee,  I  hev  got  bad  news  fur  ye.'  Bad 
news  begun  fur  me  the  day  I  war  born.  A  body 
mought  hev  said  :  '  Fee,  hyar  ye  air  !  I  hev  got  bad 
news  fur  ye  !  Sccli  a  life  ez  ye  hev  got  ter  live  ;  sech 
a  death  ter  die  !'  An'  whenst  I  git  ter  hell,  the  devil 
will  be  thar  with,  *  Fee,  I  hev  got  bad  news  fur  ye  ; 
sech  an  eternity  o'  mis'ry  ez  even  you-uns,  with  all 
yer  speriunce  o'  dolefulness,  hain't  hed  no  notion  of  !' 
An'  the  funny  part  of  it,"  he  cried,  with  a  sudden 
change  of  tone,  taking  off  his  hat  and  shaking  his 
long  ringleted  hair  backward,  "  none  of  'em  can't  tell 
me  no  news.  I  expect  it — 'tain't  news!  I  expec' 
everything  bad  !  Torment  an'  trouble  can't  be  news 
ter  Fee  Guthrie  !" 

His  step-mother  made  no  rejoinder,  although  words 
evidently  trembled  upon  her  lips,  and  all  the  impetus 
of  disclosure  was  in  her  eager  eye  ;  the  effort  by 
which  she  constrained  herself  to  mute  waiting  upon 
his  will  was  intimated  in  every  line  of  her  hard  set 


220 

face.  There  was  even  drawn  upon  it  an  expression 
of  spurious  sympathy,  a  pretence  of  affectionate  dep 
recation,  infinitely  sycophantic  and  painful  to  see  in 
a  woman  of  her  age  and  with  her  white  hair.  She 
was  kind  enough  now,  doubtless,  to  her  step-son, 
when  all  her  interests  hung  upon  his  clemency.  The 
humble  Ephraim  was  hardly  able  to  emulate  her  sub 
servience  to  his  brother's  procrastination  of  the  evil 
moment,  and  more  than  once  broke  out  with  an  ex 
clamation  compounded  of  impatience  and  displeas 
ure  :  "  Dell  lawsy  mercy  !"  "  Did  ennybody  ever  ?" 
His  face  was  red  and  eager,  and  in  its  round,  expect 
ant,  pouting  look  it  was  positively  of  a  porcine  ex 
pression.  Even  the  preoccupied  and  uninterested 
Rhodes  was  moved  to  a  wish  to  elicit  the  intelli 
gence. 

"  I  hope  it's  nothing  very  serious,  Mrs.  Guthrie," 
he  said,  anticipating  developments  in  reply. 

But  she  still  stood  silent,  looking  intently  with  her 
bright,  fierce  eyes  at  Felix,  who  broke  out  instead  : 

"  Oh,  I'll  be  bound  it's  serious  !  I  don't  look  like 
a  feller  ez  hev  many  jokes  ter  fill  up  my  days.  Least 
wise,  they  ain't  jokes  ter  me.  I  reckon,  though, 
mebbe  I  be  a  joke  myself — ter  the  devil.  I'll  bet  all 
I  hev  got  ez  he  fairly  holds  his  sides  whenst  laffin' 
at  me,  a-goin'  on  like  I  do  a-tryin'  ter  repent  o'  my 
sins,  while  all  the  '  bad  news,'  ez  mam  names  it,  in 
the  kentry  is  on  the  hue  and  cry  arter  me  all  the 
time.  I  ain't  got  no  stiddy  chance  ter  repent."  He 
had  reached  the  porch  at  last,  and  leaned  against  one 
of  the  vine-grown  posts,  his  hat  in  his  hand,  his 
frowning  brow  uncovered.  The  others  stood  about 
in  expectant  attitudes,  the  lout  Ephraim  the  very  pict- 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.      221 

ure  of  painful,  agitated  suspense,  his  mouth  open, 
his  eyes  fixed  on  the  stern,  eager  face  of  his  step 
mother,  his  hat  on  the  back  of  his  head. 

Felix  glanced  up  presently,  and  with  a  changed, 
steady  voice  said,  "  Talk  on,  mam." 

All  her  forced  composure  gave  way  suddenly.  She 
seemed  metamorphosed  into  a  fury  in  the  very  in 
stant.  "  Felix,  Felix,"  she  cried,  between  her  set 
teeth,  "  yer  cattle !  Somebody  be  arter  yer  cattle. 
Peter  Brydon  rid  by  hyar  jes'  now,  an'  tole  me  ez  one 
o'  yer  young  steers  war  lyin'  dead  yander  by  Injun 
Bluffs.  An'  up  on  the  mounting  that  fine  red  cow 
Beauty  Bess  air  dead,  too,  an'  half  tore  up."  Her 
teeth  were  grinding,  one  jaw  upon  the  other ;  there 
was  foam  upon  her  lips. 

"  Wolves !"  he  said,  quietly,  looking  up  at  her,  a 
certain  surprise  on  his  face.  "  No  use  takin'  on 
'bout  that.  Hev  ter  lose  some  cattle  by  wolves  every 
year.  I  ain't  so  close-fisted  ez  ter  mind  losin'  a  few 
cattle  wunst  in  a  while  by  accident."  He  cast  a  dep 
recatory  glance  at  Shattuck,  the  first  token  of  self- 
consciousness,  of  anxious  regard  for  the  opinion  of 
others,  which  the  young  townsman  had  ever  remarked 
in  him.  He  evidently  was  touched  by  a  sense  of 
shame ;  he  could  not  endure  to  be  held  susceptible  of 
distress  for  a  small  loss  of  worldy  goods.  There  was 
a  distinct  intimation  of  reproach  in  his  voice  as  he 
added,  "  Waal,  mam,  I  never  knowed  you-uns  ter  git 
inter  sech  a  takin',  an'  'low  it  would  lay  me  so  low, 
jes'  kase  thar  be  a  few  head  o'  cattle  los'  by  wolves 
out'n  my  herd." 

"Wolves!  wolves!  wolves!"  She  huskily  jerked 
out  the  words.  "  Ever  hear  o'  wolves  cuttin'  a 


222        IN    THE 

beastis's  throat  with  a  knife  ?  Wolves  !  Ever  hear  o' 
wolves  cuttin'  out  the  tenderline,  an'  leavin'  the  rest 
o'  the  meat  ter  spile,  or  ter  the  buzzards,  till  they 
want  another  feed?  Then  they  make  ch'ice  o' 
another  fat  brute,  an'  get  jes'  the  best  cuts  o'  meat, 
an'  leave  the  rest  ter  waste.  Wolves  ! — two-legged 
ivolves  !  An'  they  ain't  much  afeard  o'  you-uns,  Fee 
Guthrie,  them  wolves  ain't." 

She  had  an  accurate  knowledge  of  his  springs  of  ac 
tion.  He  hardly  cared  for  the  loss,  but  as  her  detail 
progressed,  the  wantonness  of  the  waste,  the  possible 
motive  of  spite,  called  a  flush  into  his  cheek  and  a 
spark  into  his  eye.  The  moment  the  last  words 
passed  her  lips,  and  the  fact  was  made  patent  to  his 
mind  that  his  name  was  not  a  terror  to  protect  his  prop 
erty,  his  whole  consciousness  was  resolved  into  fire. 

He  stood  for  one  instant  motionless,  a  terrible 
oath  upon  his  lips.  Then  he  sprang  off  like  an  un 
leashed  hound,  with  her  exultant  laugh  harshly 
ringing  through  the  dusky  shades  behind  him. 

"  I  knowed  it.  Fee  '11  lay  'em  low  enough !"  she 
cried,  with  the  satisfaction  of  a  Bellona,  as  she  tow 
ered  above  them  all,  her  stern,  lined,  dark  old  face 
so  repellently  triumphant  that  both  her  visitors  felt 
a  sense  of  recoil.  "  Felix  will  tame  'em — he'll  tame 
them  wolves.  He  air  ekal  ter  it."  She  nodded  her 
head,  with  a  look  promissory  of  horrors,  and  then  fell 
to  rubbing  her  left  arm,  which  had  been  partially 
paralyzed  of  late  years. 

Rhodes  gazed  wistfully  into  the  dense  umbrageous 
tangle  whence  his  host  had  disappeared.  "  Now  I 
don't  think  it's  sensible  to  send  Fee  off  that  way. 
He  might  get  hurt,"  he  said. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      223 

"  He  ain't  one  o'  that  kind,"  replied  the  old  wom 
an,  with  a  fierce  pride  in  the  spirit  that  had  tamed 
even  hers.  "  The  Guthries — ye  hev  licarn  them  called 
*  the  fightin'  Guthries ' — air  a  survigrous  tribe.  An' 
my  step-son  Felix  air  knowcd  ter  be  the  bravest  o'  all 
the  *  fightin'  Guthries.'  Whenst  ye  see  him  a-crawlin' 
out'n  the  leetle  eend  o'  the  horn,  ye  let  me  know." 

A  quick  thud  of  hoofs,  the  deep-mouthed,  joyous 
baying  of  a  fierce  hound  that  galloped  after  the  horse 
man,  gave  notice  to  the  party,  whose  vision  was  all 
cut  off  by  the  heavy  woods,  of  the  departure  of  the 
master  of  the  house.  Mrs.  Guthrie  looked  at  the  two 
visitors  with  a  smile  as  she  listened,  then  fell  again 
to  softly  rubbing  her  arm. 

Rhodes  and  Shattuck,  although  from  diverse  points 
of  view,  could  hardly  have  been  more  disconcerted 
than  by  the  turn  affairs  had  taken.  The  candidate  was 
without  recourse.  He  had  allowed  the  golden  oppor 
tunity  of  electioneering  with  Felix  to  evade  him  while 
he  lounged  under  the  tree  in  the  barley  field  with 
the  unimportant  younger  brother.  He  conceived  a 
repugnant  hatred  of  this  unconscious  factor  in  his 
discomfiture  as  he  glanced  at  Ephraim,  who  stood 
gazing  dully  and  blankly  in  the  direction  whence  the 
sound  of  the  hoofs  had  come,  now  faint  in  the  dis 
tance.  With  his  elastic  faculty  for  regret,  Rhodes 
was  upbraiding  himself  anew,  taking  account  of  the 
wasted  day,  the  long  ride,  and  the  fact  that  election 
eering  in  this  quarter  was  estopped,  since  the  visit 
could  not  be  decorously  repeated  ;  presently  he  was 
seized  by  forebodings  that  the  waste  of  time  was  not 
at  an  end,  for  Shattuck's  project  was  not  so  easily 
concluded.  As  the  candidate's  attention  returned  to 


224        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

the  matters  more  immediately  in  hand,  he  became 
aware  that  his  friend  was  declining  to  take  luncheon 
with  Mrs.  Guthrie,  on  the  score  that  he  should  hardly 
have  time  to  get  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain  and  ac 
complish  before  sundown  an  errand  upon  which  Felix 
had  promised  to  accompany  him. 

"  Ephraim,  however,  will  do  as  well,"  he  said,  gen 
ially,  turning  to  the  younger  brother,  who  instantly 
signified  his  acquiescence,  and  made  off  with  alacrity 
for  the  pickaxe  and  spade.  "  But  as  I'll  leave  you 
Mr.  Rhodes,  I  am  sure  I  shall  not  be  missed,"  Shat- 
tuck  saw  fit  to  add  to  his  own  excuses. 

"  No,"  Rhodes  said,  somewhat  curtly ;  "  if  you  go, 
I  shall  go  too.  I  don't  want  my  visitors" — he 
added,  recovering  his  smile  in  a  meagre  degree,  and 
bending  it  upon  Mrs.  Guthrie's  forbidding  counte 
nance  as  she  looked  from  one  to  the  other — "  to  go 
about  the  mountains  breaking  their  necks,  and  then 
putting  the  blame  on  me  for  not  being  along  to  ad 
vise  and  point  out  the  way." 

"  Jes'  ez  yer  please,"  she  retorted,  tartly,  still  look 
ing  from  one  to  the  other.  "  We  ain't  never  con 
sidered  our  Ephraim  plumb  smart  like  Felix.  But  I 
never  did  expec'  ter  hear  ez  he  warn't  even  fit  fur  a 
guide-post.  But  jes'  ez  ye  two  gentlemen  feel  dis 
posed."  And  she  reseated  herself  in  her  chair  upon 
the  porch,  and  resumed  her  knitting. 

"  Oh,  you  stay,  Rhodes,"  Shattuck  insisted,  aghast 
at  interfering  so  radically  with  Mrs.  Guthrie's  lunch 
as  to  remove  both  guests  from  the  feast.  "  You  can 
stay." 

If  Rhodes  had  been  entirely  at  liberty,  it  is  doubt 
ful  whether  he  would  have  remained.  There  was 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  8  "    COUNTRY.        225 

something  so  menacing  in  the  old  woman's  eye,  so 
coercively  albeit  vaguely  frightful  to  the  imagination, 
that  the  idea  of  spending  a  few  hours  alone  with  her, 
to  eat  at  her  board  and  sit  by  her  fireside  and  listen 
to  her  talk,  with  that  thin  friendly  veneer  scarcely 
concealing  the  harsh  vindictiveness  of  her  nature,  was 
not  to  be  contemplated  with  equanimity.  Whether 
he  would  have  feared  poison,  or  the  stealthy  stroke 
of  a  knife,  or  some  other  manifestation  of  a  cruel  in 
sanity,  although  mental  aberration  had  never  been 
associated  with  her  deeds,  Rhodes  would  hardly 
have  ventured  upon  the  ordeal  of  a  solitary  meal 
served  by  her.  Nevertheless,  he  noted  with  a  pang 
of  anger  and  alarm  that  she  did  not  second  Shattuck's 
insistence,  and  that  the  invitation  was  no  longer  open 
to  him.  If  she  heard  his  adieux,  somewhat  con 
strained  and  uncharacteristic,  if  she  saw  his  out 
stretched  hand,  she  made  no  sign  except  by  a  short 
nod,  which  he  might  either  interpret  as  response,  or 
as  merely  the  emphasis  of  concluding  a  long  row  of 
counted  stitches  upon  her  knitting-needles. 

She  laid  them  down  presently  to  hearken  to  the 
faint  baying  of  Guthrie's  hound  on  the  far  slope  of 
the  mountain,  the  echo  striking  back  the  sound,  aug 
mented  like  the  voice  of  a  pack  in  full  cry,  and  thus, 
with  uplifted  eyes  and  intent,  listening  attitude,  she 
was  left  in  the  deep  green  shadow  growing  duskier. 

"  Now  see  what  you've  done !"  cried  Rhodes,  an 
grily,  and  all  oblivious  of  the  presence  of  Ephraim, 
as  they  walked  away  to  their  horses  hitched  to  the 
fence.  "  It  does  seem  to  me  you  might  forbear  in 
sulting  my  friends." 

Ephraim  looked  with  quick  anxiety  from  one  to 
15 


226    IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S    COUNTRY. 

the  other.  On  his  ready  impulse  he  spoke,  forestall 
ing  Shattuck' s  reply.  "  Oh,  ye  can't  holp  makin' 
mam  mad  ;  she  gits  mad  'kase  other  folks  breathe  the 
breath  o'  life.  The  only  way  ter  suit  her  is  ter  die, 
an'  gin  her  the  Great  Smoky  Mountings  fur  elbow- 
room.  Nuthin'  less." 

"  I  had  no  idea  that  you  would  come  too,"  pro 
tested  Shattuck.  "  I  thought  that  if  one  of  us  stayed, 
the  courtesies  would  be  amply  observed  ;  and  so  they 
would." 

"  You  had  no  right  to  think,"  said  Rhodes,  putting 
his  foot  into  the  stirrup,  his  face  scarlet  under  his 
dark  straw  hat.  "  You  continually  jeopardize  my  in 
terests  by  taking  the  initiative  in  my  affairs.  We 
had  accepted  her  invitation,  and  you  had  no  right  to 
withdraw,  as  I  couldn't  stay  without  you." 

"  Laws-a-massy,  boys !  don't  git  ter  quar'lin '," 
Ephraim  eagerly  and  familiarly  adjured  them,  as  he 
mounted  an  old  sorrel  mare,  who  was  attended  by  a 
frisking  long-legged  colt.  "  Ye  don't  expec'  mam 
ter  vote  fur  ye  noways  ennyhow,  Mr.  Rhodes.  It 
don't  make  no  diff'unce.  Me  an'  Fee  ain't  goin'  ter 
hold  no  gredge  agin  ye  ;  ye  needn't  mind." 

The  unvarnished  promise,  and  the  evident  compre 
hension  of  his  intentions  and  mission,  however  grat 
ing  to  Rhodes's  more  delicate  sensibilities  and  pride, 
were  nevertheless  salutary.  Once  more  the  ground 
of  offence  was  proved  untenable,  and  he  saw  that  a 
simulation  of  reconciliation  was  in  order.  Although 
he  chafed  under  the  continual  constraints  with  which 
Shattuck  had  unintentionally  burdened  him,  he  felt 
that  it  was  not  yet  time  to  boldly  throw  them  off. 
Thus  he  adjusted  himself  anew  to  their  weight. 


XL 

HE  was  not  sorry  that  further  conversation  was 
precluded  by  the  necessity  of  riding  in  single  file,  for 
the  road,  rocky  and  narrow,  hardly  more  than  a 
bridle-path,  indeed,  was  beset  by  precipices,  now  on 
one  side,  now  on  the  other,  and  again  sheer  down  on 
both,  their  way  lying  along  the  crest  of  a  high  comb- 
like  ridge,  above  abysses  veiled  by  the  heavy  growth 
of  pines,  the  plumy  tops  waving  far  below.  Rhodes 
and  Shattuck  found  it  needful  to  give  careful  heed 
to  their  steps,  for  their  horses,  bred  in  the  "  flat 
woods,"  trod  this  narrow  ridge  with  a  gingerly  gait 
as  if  the  ground  were  hot,  with  pricked-up  ears,  and 
with  now  and  again  a  convulsive  snort  of  surprise 
and  disparagement.  But  the  sure-footed  mountain 
mare,  well  inured  to  the  craggy  heights,  went  deftly 
and  carelessly  along  at  a  sharp  trot,  occasionally 
snatching  a  casual  mouthful  from  the  bushes  that 
precariously  clung  to  the  wayside,  while  the  colt, 
with  the  nimblest  disregard  of  lurking  dangers,  cara 
coled  and  curveted,  now  in  advance  and  now  behind 
the  party,  showing  its  flying,  unshod  heels  in  almost 
impossible  attitudes  against  the  sky,  inconsistent 
with  the  laws  of  gravity  and  of  standing  upon  the 
earth  at  all.  Here  could  be  seen  the  great  contours 
of  the  range,  invisible  from  the  cove,  or  but  dim 
ly  suggested  by  variant  shades.  The  massive  slopes 


228    IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S 

rose  on  every  hand  ;  from  deep  intervenient  ravines 
came  now  and  then  silver  gleams  of  mountain  torrents 
among  the  crags  and  the  pines.  Often  and  often 
the  tremors  and  tinklings  of  hidden  streams  struck 
clearly  on  the  ear,  mingled  with  the  sigh  of  the  rus 
tling  foliage,  and  their  breath  gave  to  the  fragrant  air 
freshness.  A  great  peak  near  at  hand  loomed  up 
high  against  the  sky ;  as  the  horsemen  made  a  sud 
den  turn  the  massive  shoulder  of  the  mountain  inter 
vened  and  the  dome  disappeared.  The  cove  seemed 
nearer  and  nearer  whenever  a  glimpse  of  it  was 
vouchsafed  from  amidst  the  dark  green  forest  that 
presently  towered  about  them,  for  the  road  now  ran 
through  the  woods  upon  a  broad  slope,  with  ever  and 
anon  a  cliff  beetling  over  their  way.  The  dense  fo 
liage  of  the  laurel  jungles  was  bronzed  by  the  sun 
light,  growing  ever  more  tawny  as  the  afternoon 
waned.  Purple  shadows  were  lurking  in  the  midst 
of  the  valley.  Farthest  mountains,  blue  once,  were 
violet  now  and  faintly  flushed.  And  when  at  last 
the  horsemen  emerged  from  the  densities  of  the 
woods  into  the  clifty  gorge,  and  rode  still  in  single 
file  upon  the  swaying,  hollow-sounding  bridge,  they 
found  a  deep  red  cloud  reflected  in  the  river,  and  all 
the  harbingers  of  twilight  abroad  in  the  cove.  The 
smoke  from  the  Yates  cabin,  seeming  nearer  than 
the  fact  might  warrant,  since  the  undulations  of  the 
land,  which  plodding  feet  must  measure,  were  not  a 
part  of  the  line  of  sight,  curled  up  with  a  brisk  con 
volution  and  a  volume  that  heralded  the  evening 
meal.  All  adown  the  lane  the  cows  were  coming 
home,  and  the  mellow  clanking  of  their  bells  ac 
cented  the  quietude.  Some  night-blooming  flower 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      229 

was  awake  in  the  woods  with  a  sweet,  wild,  indefinite 
odor.  Here  and  there  on  the  purple  slope,  reputed 
to  be  the  pygmy  burying-ground,  a  fire-fly  flickered, 
swift,  elusive,  evanescent.  And  on  a  great  bloom 
ing  laurel-bush  the  mocking-bird  sang,  heedless  of 
the  darkness  to  come,  heedless  of  the  day  gone  by, 
possessed  by  its  fervor  of  music  that  made  gloom 
light  and  all  life  a  joyance,  like  some  enthusiast  soul 
in  the  ecstasy  of  a  gift,  unmindful  of  the  world  and 
of  all  the  paltry  outward  aspects. 

"  This  hyar  big  laurel  bush  air  a  good  landmark," 
Ephraim  said,  turning  in  his  saddle,  his  hand  on  his 
mare's  back,  that  he  might  better  reverse  his  posture 
as  he  spoke  to  the  two  men  that  followed.  "  About 
the  only  one  thar  be,  too.  We  had  better  begin  tliar, 
I  reckon.  Fur  ef  ye  find  nuthin,'  ye'd  know  whar 
ye  started  ef  ever  ye  kem  tcr  dig  ag'in.  The  t'other 
trees  air  all  too  much  alike."  And  he  turned  his  face 
again  toward  the  mare's  head,  and  surveyed  anew 
the  space  before  him. 

Singularly  clear  it  was  and  free  from  underbrush; 
the  steepness  of  the  slope  and  the  great  draught  of 
the  gorge  made  it  a  fair  field  for  the  fierce  autumn 
fires  that  annually  swept  over  it.  Only  the  gigantic 
oak  and  poplar  and  chestnut  trees  were  spared,  stand 
ing  full-leaved  and  in  a  heavy  phalanx  upon  the  decliv 
ity.  Beneath  their  boughs  mystery  lurked  unsolved. 
A  sentiment  of  awe,  of  doubt,  of  reluctance  took  pos 
session  even  of  Rhodes's  prosaic  mind  as  he  reined 
up  in  the  deep  shadow.  He  drew  out  his  watch,  al 
beit  he  had  resolved  that  he  would  not  remonstrate. 

"  Will  you  have  time,  Shattuck  ?"  he  said.  "  Hadn't 
you  better  wait  until  to-morrow  ?" 


230        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  I  war  a-tliinkin'  cz  much  myself,"  said  Epliraim, 
turning  a  hopeful  face  toward  Shattuck,  who  had 
drawn  rein,  and  sat  motionless  upon  his  horse,  look 
ing  about  him  with  a  quick  dilated  eye,  as  if  he 
hardly  heard. 

The  strange  place  !  The  thronging  shadows  !  How 
many  "times  had  they  mustered  here!  With  what 
pathetic  sense  was  the  silence  replete !  What  tears 
had  been  shed  for  those  who  lay  here  hushed,  and 
themselves  would  weep  no  more,  as  once  they  had 
wept  in  that  universal  heritage  of  sorrow !  AVhat 
hearts  had  bled  that  these  hearts,  dust  now,  should 
cease  to  beat !  Time — there  is  no  time,  when  man 
through  all  the  vain  centuries  can  feel  so  close  to 
man,  can  think  his  thoughts  and  measure  the  throb 
in  pulses  long  ago  stilled.  Ah !  the  confusion  of 
tongues  wrought  no  divergence  here  !  The  conclu- 
siveness  of  the  grave,  however  named ;  the  yearning 
sense  of  loss ;  the  insistent  expectation,  nay,  the  im 
perative  demand  of  the  soul  that  this  terrible  pause, 
this  nullity,  should  not  be  the  final  period  of  that 
fair  promise  called  life — all  hung  about  the  forgotten 
pygmy  burying-ground  with  infinite  mystery,  with 
unassuaged  pathos.  Only  science,  of  all  the  develop 
ments  of  the  human  mind,  might  fitly  take  account 
of  the  mere  functional  disabilities  which  it  repre 
sented — might  speculate  and  exert  its  fine  rational 
inferential  imagination,  and  construct  a  status  from 
assumed  facts,  and  promulgate  dicta  so  founded,  to 
be  received  and  accepted  for  a  time,  and  then  de 
molished  by  a  still  more  fine-spun  theory  in  what  is 
called  the  march  of  progress.  These  forces  were 
astir  in  Shattuck  as  he  Hung  himself  from  the  saddle. 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.       231 

His  brow  was  slightly  corrugated,  his  eyes  were 
alight,  his  pulses  beat  at  fever-heat ;  not  that  he  enter 
tained  so  far-fetched  a  theory  as  that  these  poor  mor 
tal  relics  were  aught  but  the  infant  remains  of  the 
American  Indian,  or,  perhaps,  of  earlier  aboriginal 
people,  but  the  talk  of  strange  myths,  and  that  inex 
plicable  Tennessee  tradition  of  pygmy  dwellers,  col 
ored  even  his  mind,  which  he  sedulously  sought  to 
hold  blank  for  the  correct  impression,  and  made  his 
hand  tremble  as  he  laid  hold  of  the  pickaxe,  extended 
down  to  him  by  Ephraim  Guthrie,  as  if  he  were  in 
deed  on  the  verge  of  some  superlatively  strange  dis 
covery  discounting  all  human  experience,  and  befit 
ting  the  realm  of  a  fairy  tale. 

"  Hyar  they  air,  pick  an'  spade,  ef  ye  be  a-goin' 
ter  dig  yerse'f,"  remarked  Ephraim.  He  did  not 
realize  any  difference  in  social  status  that  might  have 
relegated  the  manual  labor  to  him,  nor  even  the  fact 
that  it  was  better  suited  to  his  massive  and  burly 
frame.  He  had  intended  to  perform  itr  in  his  char 
acter  of  host,  to  shield  his  guest  from  the  discomfort 
of  the  slight  exertion.  He  relinquished  the  imple 
ments  with  reluctance,  remembering  this  resolution  ; 
but  superstition,  now  that  he  was  upon  the  spot, 
prevailed,  and  overbore  even  the  instinct  of  hospital 
ity  native  in  the  mountaineer's  heart.  The  two  im 
plements  clashed  together,  the  sound  loud  and  metal 
lic  in  the  stillness ;  he  looked  a  little  wistfully  after 
his  guest  as  Shattuck  bore  them  away  out  into  the 
more  open  spot  where  the  laurel  bush  grew  almost  to 
the  proportions  of  a  tree,  unimpeded  by  others  of  its 
kindred,  lie  had  no  wish,  this  simple  Ephraim,  to 
peer  in  at  the  strange  sepulchre — the  six-slab  stone 


232        IN    THE 

coffin  he  had  often  heard  of  in  the  terrible  fireside 
stories  ;  he  cared  naught  for  curiously  woven  shrouds, 
and  feathered  mantles,  and  carcanets  of  pearl  beads, 
and  jars  of  quaint  pottery  ;  nor  for  questions  of  race 
and  time  and  civilization  these  may  betoken  and  solve. 
Rhodes  still  sat  in  the  saddle,  as  motionless  as  an 
equestrian  statue,  sharply  outlined  against  the  crim 
son  sky,  and  beneath  an  oak  bough  as  dark,  as  heavy, 
and  as  massive  as  if  it  were  wrought  of  bronze.  The 
light  was  clearer  in  the  open  space  where  the  branches 
could  not  fling  their  gloom,  and  as  Shattuck  ran 
swiftly  down  through  the  long  grass  he  could  still 
see  a  flower  here  and  there  smile  up  at  him — the 
tawny  red  of  the  jewel-weed,  and  the  close-tufted 
ball  of  the  "  mountain  snow."  The  range  loomed 
far  above.  A  star  was  on  its  crest,  faintly  scintillat 
ing.  The  door  and  window  of  the  Yates  cabin,  far 
ther  down  the  cove,  were  illumined  from  the  fire-lit 
hearth,  a  dimly  fluctuating  radiance,  sidereal  too  in 
the  midst  of  the  gathering  shadows.  The  falls  still 
showed  their  gleaming  green  and  white,  and  the  mists, 
exhaled  from  the  depressions  between  the  purple 
slopes,  wore  a  gentle  dove-like  gray.  A  tender  hour 
of  reveries,  and  blurring  tints,  and  restful  recollec 
tions  of  the  day  done,  but  still  far  from  the  morrow. 
The  two  men  under  the  tree  did  not  speak;  the 
horses  did  not  stir ;  only  the  vague  rustling  of  the 
saddle  betokened  the  regular  rise  and  fall  of  respira 
tion  ;  even  the  frisky  colt  stood  motionless,  and  gazed 
at -the  flashing  river  with  a  full  and  meditative  eye. 
Shattuck  had  paused  before  the  laurel  on  the  side 
toward  the  water ;  neither  of  the  other  men,  albeit 
country -bred,  might  have  noticed  that  here  the  grass 


233 

and  weeds  were  a  trifle  bent — under  the  recent  rain, 
perchance  ;  a  trifle  withered — by  the  sun,  it  might 
have  been.  Nor  did  he  ;  he  chose  the  spot,  remem 
bering  Yates's  words  that  here  the  ground  sounded 
hollow. 

But  no  man  who  had  ever  wielded  a  pickaxe  could 
have  failed  to  discern,  as  he  lifted  it  high,  and  the 
sharp  point  sank  into  the  ground,  that  it  was  merely 
a  replaced  turf  that  yielded  so  readily  to  the  blow — 
replaced  with  its  mat  of  roots  severed — and  not  the 
tough  earth  bound  by  a  thousand  veinous  fibres  to 
the  full-pulsed  herbage.  He  was  unaccustomed  to 
the  earth  save  geologically  or  geographically  consid 
ered,  and  to  herbage  except  in  its  botanical  aspects. 
lie  only  lifted  the  pickaxe  high  above  his  head  once 
more,  and  once  more  the  point  struck  down  into  the 
loosened  mould — struck  down  with  a  sharp  metallic 
clangor,  as  of  steel  upon  stone.  It  rang  far  through 
the  quiet  cove.  A  low,  hollow,  vibratory,  vault-like 
resonance  followed — mute,  indeed,  to  all  ears  save 
his  own,  but  what  significance  that  murmur  held  for 
him  !  He  lifted  his  head  to  look  at  the  two  men 
who  had  turned  toward  him  upon  the  sudden  smit 
ing  of  the  rock,  and  were  gazing  at  him.  The  next 
moment — a  moment  confused  forever  after  in  his  rec 
ollection — something  invisible  passed  him  in  the  air, 
singing  shrilly,  a  high-keyed  tone  ;  a  sharp  report, 
and  all  the  echoes  of  mountain  and  crag  were  clamor 
ing.  He  hardly  realized  its  meaning.  He  turned 
dully  in  the  direction  whence  the  sound  seemed  to 
come,  and  so  trivial  a  thing  as  the  movement  saved 
his  life.  Close  by  his  head  again  a  rifle-ball  whizzed  ; 
it  kept  the  line  unswervingly,  entered  the  skull  of  the 


234        IN    THE 

staring,  amazed  colt  upon  the  slope,  pierced  his  brain, 
and  the  creature  dropped  dead  without  a  struggle  on 
the  long  grass.  The  sight  served  to  convince  the 
stupefied,  reluctant  faculties  of  Shattuck  that  some 
enemy  in  the  dusk  was  firing  at  him.  He  could  not, 
in  the  bewilderment  of  the  moment,  distinguish  the 
words  that  Rhodes  shouted  to  him.  It  was  rather  in 
obedience  to  his  gesture,  as  he  rode  a  little  way  out 
from  the  gloom,  leading  by  the  bridle  his  friend's 
plunging  and  frightened  horse,  that  Shattuck  drop 
ped  pickaxe  and  spade,  and  ran  toward  him  across 
the  dusky,  tangled  grasses.  He  caught  the  reins  as 
they  were  flung  to  him  ;  but  it  was  no  easy  matter  to 
mount  the  rearing  and  snorting  animal.  The  other 
two  men  were  fairly  in  retreat  before  Shattuck,  run 
ning  by  the  horse's  side,  and  hanging  with  all  his 
weight  upon  the  bridle,  contrived  to  get  his  foot  into 
the  stirrup.  Rhodes,  riding  down  the  smooth  slopes 
of  the  pygmy  burying-ground,  across  unnumbered 
graves,  the  heavy  shadow  of  the  forest  trees  shield 
ing  the  party,  and  making  further  attack  futile,  heard 
at  last  the  hoof-beats  of  his  friend's  horse  at  a  regu 
lar  gallop  pressing  hard  behind  him,  and  turned  to 
see  Shattuck  once  more  safe  in  the  saddle.  He  put 
spurs  to  his  own  steed  without  more  ado.  The  dank 
evening  air  fanned  his  face  ;  he  could  hear  its  silken 
rustle  as  it  was  stirred  into  seeming  activity  by  his 
own  quick  rush  through  it.  This  vague  simulation 
of  a  sound,  the  horses'  muffled  hoof -beats  barely  dis 
tinguishable  in  the  thick  grass,  the  drowsy  chant  of 
the  cicada,  the  dull  monotone  of  the  river — all  hardly 
impinged  upon  the  sense  of  primordial  stillness  that 
pervaded  the  eventide ;  it  might  have  seemed  that 


235 

that  keen,  menacing  note  of  the  rifle,  the  sharp  shib 
boleth  of  doom,  was  but  some  jarring  incongruity  of 
a  morbid  fancy. 

The  trees  began  to  give  way  ;  the  more  open,  level 
spaces  of  the  cove  were  at  hand ;  the  darkness  grad 
ually  diminished.  Rhodes  again  clapped  spurs  to  his 
horse,  since  here  they  were  to  leave  the  protecting 
shade.  Foremost  of  the  three,  he  was  already  in  the 
lane  when  he  became  aware  that  he  was  not  fol 
lowed  ;  his  companions  had  fallen  away.  His  first 
impulse,  as  he  glanced  over  his  shoulder  into  the  va 
cant  gloom,  was  to  pursue  his  own  way,  and  make 
good  his  escape.  Then  he  reined  up  so  suddenly 
that  the  horse,  still  trembling  and  wild  and  fright 
ened,  fell  back  upon  his  haunches.  Rhodes  sat  mo 
tionless  for  a  moment,  gazing  over  his  shoulder. 

Night  possessed  the  pygmy  bury  ing-ground,  and 
the  great  phalanx  of  oak  and  chestnut-trees  was  lost 
in  an  indistinguishable  gloom  ;  but  here,  where  no 
shadow  hindered,  he  could  see  the  contours  of  the 
wide  landscape,  from  which  color  had  faded,  and, 
above  its  dusky,  blurring  expanse,  the  dark  sky  em 
bossed  with  a  myriad  of  stars.  The  fences  on  either 
hand  of  the  grass-grown  way  were  dimly  visible  to 
his  alert  senses.  Along  their  parallel  lines  naught 
was  to  be  seen,  save  once  a  flash  betokening  the  strik 
ing  of  a  spark  betwixt  flint  and  iron ;  and  in  that  mo 
ment  he  thought  he  heard  the  thud  of  hoofs.  He 
ground  a  curse  between  his  teeth  as  he  wheeled  his 
horse.  Shattuck,  it  seemed,  had  seen  fit  not  to  fol 
low  his  host's  lead,  and  doubtless  the  dull  Epliraim 
was  not  yet  aware,  as  he  cantered  along  in  the  rear, 
that  Rhodes  did  not  still  guide  the  little  party.  The 


236        IN    THE 

candidate  was  a  brave  man,  and  in  any  sufficient  quar 
rel  could  Lave  stood  his  ground  with  equanimity. 
To  be  the  target,  however,  for  a  mysterious  enmity 
that  lurked  in  ambush  and  in  the  nightfall  promised 
heavy  draughts  upon  the  resources  of  his  courage. 
The  prosaic  and  utilitarian  phase  of  his  mind  took 
account  of  his  candidacy  in  this  connection.  No 
man  is  so  heavily  handicapped  in  a  race  as  he  who 
bears  the  imputation  of  unpopularity.  The  public 
expectation  of  success  is  as  a  loadstone  to  the  event. 
lie  sustained  a  positive  loss  in  the  mere  fact  that  he 
or  his  friend  had  been  fired  upon.  And  whither  was 
Shattuck  bound  now,  and  what  to  do  ?  With  a  de 
termination  to  hold  him  in  check  and  to  thwart  his 
purpose,  Rhodes  galloped  in  the  direction  whence  the 
faint  hoof -beats  sounded,  albeit  the  darkness  held  un 
known  terrors,  the  thought  of  which  shook  his  nerves, 
and  although  silence  as  profound  as  this  had  but  now 
been  rent  by  that  tense  report  of  the  rifle.  It  was 
only  for  a  few  moments  that  the  successive  cross- 
stakes  of  the  zigzag  rail-fences,  seeming  disconnected 
from  the  rest,  and  high  as  the  horse's  head,  flew  by 
him  on  either  side  in  relief  against  the  lighter  tones 
of  the  fields  they  enclosed.  The  river  suddenly 
shows  between  its  banks,  gleaming  darkly  with  the 
night  sky,  all  the  splendors  of  the  stars  shattered  in 
the  ripples,  and  is  gone  as  he  dashes  on.  lie  hears 
the  booming  of  the  cataract ;  and  from  the  pygmy 
burying-ground,  where  late  the  mocking-bird  sang, 
the  sudden  ill-omened  shrilling  of  an  owl.  He  sees 
above  the  western  mountains  a  dull  red  after-glow  of 
the  sunset,  and  below  its  darkling  pine-grown  slopes 
the  little  Yates  cabin,  its  windows  shining  squares  of 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         237 

yellow  light.  The  radiance  issued  forth  so  far  as  to 
reveal  Shattuck  alighting  from  his  horse  at  the  bars. 
and  the  clumsier  figure  of  Ephraim  Guthrie  still 
mounted,  and  looking  over  his  shoulder,  as  he  per 
ceived  for  the  first  time  that  Rhodes  was  not  in  the 
lead. 

An  aptitude  in  emergency  is  a  natural  trait,  not 
cultivated,  and  Rhodes  possessed  it  to  a  useful  de 
gree.  He  flung  himself  from  his  horse,  and  followed 
on  his  friend's  heels  with  such  despatch  that  albeit  he 
did  not  hear  the  words  with  which  Shattuck  greeted 
the  party  within,  he  was  on  the  threshold  before  a 
rejoinder  was  elicited.  No  friendly  greeting  had  it 
been,  to  judge  from  the  dismayed,  deprecatory  faces 
grouped  about  the  fire.  Adelaide  had  risen  with  a 
slow  look  of  doubt,  a  sort  of  stunned  surprise.  Leti- 
tia,  who  had  been  out  milking  the  cows,  stood  in  the 
back  doorway,  the  brimming  piggin  on  her  head,  one 
hand  lifted  to  stay  it,  the  wind  rustling  the  straight 
skirt  of  her  dress,  the  twilight  and  the  fire-light  min 
gled  on  her  face.  Her  blue  eyes  were  alight  with  a 
sort  of  wonder,  that  held  nevertheless  an  intimation 
of  comprehension,  which  was  at  variance  with  the 
stolid  amazement  in  Baker  Anderson's  countenance, 
as,  just  arrived  and  still  breathless,  he  sat  squarely  in 
his  chair,  one  hand  on  either  knee,  his  jaw  fallen, 
gaping  thunder-struck  at  the  intruder.  The  centre 
of  the  family  group,  Moses,  was  seated  upon  the 
floor  in  the  fire-light,  and  turned  himself  dexterously 
about  to  survey  over  his  small  shoulder  the  new 
comers  ;  he  was  silent  in  seeming  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  their  gaze  overlooked  him,  and  had  no  ref 
erence  to  his  existence  ;  his  soft  face  only  expressed 


238        IN   THE 

a  sort  of  infantile  apprehensiveness  and  suspension  of 
opinion.  A  tallow  dip  sputtered  on  the  high  mantel 
piece  ;  there  was  pine  amongst  the  fuel,  and  the 
resin  flared  white  in  the  flames.  Very  distinct  the 
scene  was,  although,  as  the  lights  fluctuated,  the 
fire  flickered  in  the  breeze,  which  swayed  it  like  a 
canvas  :  the  brown  walls  ;  the  purplish  black  squares 
where  the  night  looked  in  through  the  windows,  with 
here  a  feathery  bough,  and  here  a  star,  and  here  the 
dim  contours  of  a  dark  summit  against  the  sky ;  the 
red -bedecked  warping  bars;  the  table  not  yet  set 
forth  with  the  supper  crockery,  save  only  a  great 
brown  pitcher  and  a  yellow  bowl ;  the  sheen  of  tin 
ware  on  a  shelf;  even  Shattuck's  shadow,  as  sarcasti 
cally  nonchalant  as  the  substance  which  it  mimicked, 
as  it  waved  its  hand  in  mockery  of  courtesy,  while 
he  reiterated  his  bitterly  merry  congratulations.  The 
white  light  showed  the  very  flare  of  fury  in  his  eyes 
that  oddly  dallied  with  the  smile  on  his  face. 

"  You  are  a  courageous  rifleman,  Mrs.  Yates,"  he 
was  saying,  glancing  up  at  the  rifle  on  the  wall,  glit 
tering  upon  the  rack  of  deer  antlers.  "  You  have  set 
three  men  off.  at  full  run  this  evening.  Few  ladies 
could  say  as  much,  I  am  sure.  If  you  would  only 
mend  your  aim  a  little  !" 

With  a  blunt  accusation  she  could  doubtless  have 
coped  ;  but  she  could  only  stare  at  him  in  silent  amaze 
ment  as  he  made  these  elusive  feints.  The  other  two 
men,  lumbering  and  massive  shadows  in  the  back 
ground,  stared  too  in  surprise  at  him,  and  silently 
waited  developments. 

He  had  his  hat  in  his  hand  as  he  leaned  on  the  tall 
back  of  a  chair,  and  he  looked  steadily  at  her  with 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.   239 

an  air  of  graceful  and  good-natured  raillery,  all  at  va 
riance  with  the  fire  in  his  eyes. 

"  Mend  your  aim,  only  a  trifle,  Mrs.  Yatcs,  and 
next  time  perhaps  your  target  won't  be  so  unman 
nerly  as  to  run  off  from  so  accomplished  a  marks 
man,"  and  once  more  he  laughed  with  a  genial  inflec 
tion,  then  caught  his  breath  with  a  sort  of  gasp  as 
his  face  grew  scarlet. 

Rhodes  laid  a  hand  upon  his  shoulder.  "  Why, 
Shattuck,"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  resonant  amazement 
that  made  the  roof  of  the  little  cabin  ring  like  a 
sounding-board,  "  what  are  you  thinking  of  ?  Mrs. 
Yates  to  fire  a  rifle  at  us  ?" 

"  At  me,  if  you  please !"  cried  Shattuck.  Then 
addressing  Adelaide  :  "Didn't  you  say  you  would — 
or  perhaps  my  treacherous  memory  misleads  me — in 
case  I  ventured  to  open  the  pygmy  graves  ?  Your 
husband  told  me  this." 

"  Yes  ;  but  I  never — "  she  faltered ;  then  she 
paused. 

Letitia  had  placed  the  piggin  on  the  shelf,  and 
crossed  the  room  with  a  quick,  light,  definite  step. 
The  clumsy  rifle  was  off  the  rack  and  in  her  slight, 
incongruous  grasp  in  another  moment.  She  held  it 
up  before  the  men ;  there  was  the  powder  stain  of  a 
recent  discharge  about  its  lock.  And  then  her  eyes, 
like  blue  flames,  burned  upon  the  shrinking,  over 
whelmed  mistress  of  the  house,  thus  seemingly  con 
victed  on  her  own  hearth-stone. 

Adelaide  never  knew  how  she  found  the  breath  to 
gasp  forth  the  words ;  the  instinct  of  self-defence 
alone  framed  them.  "  I  fired  the  rifle  off  at  a  hawk 
ez  war  arter  the  chickens,  early,  early  this  arternoon 


240        IN    THE 

whilst  ye  war  away,"  she  replied  to  the  woman  who 
had  said  nothing,  instead  of  to  the  man  who  had 
spoken  so  plainly. 

Rhodes's  eye  was  suddenly  steady.  His  face  had 
grown  graver,  indeed,  but  it  had  cleared.  It  wore  a 
look  now  adjusted  to  inspection,  and  thoroughly  in 
character — the  pallid  hue,  the  relaxing  ligaments,  and 
flahby  flesh  it  showed  only  a  moment  ago  were  all  re 
solved  into  the  firm,  controlled  countenance  of  a  man 
who  has  his  nerves,  his  fears,  his  prospects,  well  in 
hand. 

"  Mrs.  Yates,"  he  said,  with  sober  circumspection, 
"this  is  a  very  serious  matter,  to  threaten  to  shoot 
Mr.  Shattuck.  I  hope  your  husband  told  you  so." 

Poor  Adelaide  !  With  that  sense  of  responsibility 
for  woe  which  is  in  some  sort  assuaged  by  a  com 
pleteness  of  confession,  she  broke  out,  with  all  the 
abasement  of  self-blame :  "  Oh,  he  did  !  he  did ! 
That's  why  we  quar'led  ;  that's  why  he  lef  me.  I 
know  'twar  wrong,  now.  I  reckon  I  never  meant  it 
then.  But  I  wanted  the  Leetle  People  lef  be  in  thar 
graves,  like  they  hev  always  been." 

Rhodes's  comprehension  was  at  best  but  ill  adapted 
to  the  reception  of  any  subtle  meanings.  To  his 
mind  those  words  expressed  a  recantation  of  her  for 
mer  denial.  His  face  hardened,  but  at  the  same 
time  there  was  a  look  of  genuine  relief  upon  it,  which 
Shattuck — still  leaning  upon  the  back  of  the  chair, 
and  airily  flirting  his  hat  in  his  hand  as  he  glanced 
from  one  to  the  other — could  not  altogether  inter 
pret. 

"  It  was  indeed  very  wrong,"  Rhodes  said,  severely. 
"And  might  have  been  far  worse.  If  your  aim  had 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S  "    COUNTRY.        241 

been  better,  you  might  have  killed  Mr.  Shattuck  in 
stead  of  Guthrie's  colt." 

She  turned  her  eyes,  full  of  a  sort  of  confused  ter 
ror,  and  her  pallid  face  toward  Ephraim,  who  stood 
near  the  doorway,  a  massive,  stolid  presentation  of 
the  rustic.  He  met  her  look  with  a  glance  of  deep 
reproach. 

"Fee  hev  been  in  mighty  hard  luck  ter-day,"  he 
remarked.  "  Somebody  hev  been  a-shootin'  of  his 
cattle — rthe  leetle  red  steer,  an'  that  thar  small  crum- 
ply  cow  named  Beauty  Bess."  His  tone  was  as  if  he 
recalled  acquaintances  to  Mrs.  Yates's  mind,  and  had 
something  of  an  elegiac  cadence.  "  An'  now  hyar's 
that  leetle  colt  ez  he  sot  sech  store  by — spry  leetle 
critter,  with  a  powerful  springy  gait.  Fee  looked  ter 
him  ter  show  speed  one  o'  these  days." 

Her  wild  eyes  dilated.  "  Why,  Eph,"  she  cried, 
in  a  convincing,  coercive  voice,  "  I — I  never  shot  the 
pore  leetle  critter !" 

"  He  warn't  pore  !  He  war  fat,  fur  true,"  assever 
ated  Ephraim,  with  a  farmer's  pride  in  the  state  of 
his  stock. 

Rhodes  burst  into  a  sudden  rollicking  laugh,  and 
Shattuck  wondered  at  the  evident  change  in  his 
moral  atmosphere.  The  candidate  had  found  the 
explanation  of  his  friend's  unpopularity  far  more 
easily  to  be  endured  than  the  idea  that  he  himself 
sustained  a  secret  enmity.  The  circumstance  of 
the  rifle-shot  would  be  felicitously  accounted  for  by 
this  woman's  threats  against  Shattuck's  projected  in 
vestigation,  her  husband's  quarrel  with  her  for  this 
reason  and  his  subsequent  desertion  of  her.  The 
political  status  of  the  canvass  might  remain  intact, 
16 


242         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

suffering  naught  from  her  inimical  feeling  against 
Shattuck,  who  had  made  her  husband  his  partisan. 

"  But  I  wouldn't  shoot  a  colt.  I  wouldn't  be  so 
mean,"  she  declared,  her  eyes  full  of  tears. 

"  You  had  rather  shoot  merely  a  man,"  Shattuck 
suggested,  lightly. 

"  We  ought  to  have  you  bound  over  to  keep  the 
peace,  Mrs.  Yates."  Rhodes  resumed  his  note  of 
severity. 

"  For  I  have  the  permission  of  the  owner  of  the 
land  to  open  the  graves  and  to  search  for  curiosities 
and  relics,  and  I  shall  do  so,  relying  on  the  protection 
of  the  law,"  Shattuck  added. 

"  You'd  better  do  like  ye  done  the  t'other  night," 
Letitia  put  in,  unexpectedly ;  "  kem  whenst  all  be 
asleep." 

Shattuck  turned  a  look  of  questioning  amazement 
upon  her. 

"  Oh,  I  hearn  ye  !'r  she  said,  impatient  of  the  de 
nial  in  his  face — "  I  hearn  yer  pickaxe  a-striking  inter 
the  ground  agin  the  rock  coffins  o'  the  Leetle  Peo 
ple." 

Once  more  Rhodes  looked  ill  at  ease.  A  strange 
ghoulish  guest  this  seemed  even  to  his  standpoint 
of  superior  education  —  to  haunt  the  vicinage  of 
those  pygmy  graves  in  the  light  of  the  midnight 
moon. 

But  Shattuck's  face  had  a  distinct  touch  of  anxiety 
upon  it.  "  Why,  who  could  that  have  been  ?"  he  ex 
claimed,  with  so  genuine  a  note  of  surprise  that 
Rhodes's  suspicion  was  disarmed. 

"  Never  mind,  never  mind,"  he  said,  with  his 
coarse  jocularity ;  "  there'll  be  a  few  pygmies  left 


243 

for  you,  I'll  be  bound  !  Come  along,  we  must  be 
getting  home." 

Shattuck  shook  off  the  hand  which  his  friend 
placed  upon  his  shoulder ;  but  Rhodes  turned  with 
unimpaired  cheerfulness  to  the  others. 

"  Now  look-a-here,  Mrs.  Yates,  this  must  stop,  short 
off,  right  here.  I'd  like  to  think  I'd  leave  as  good  a 
friend  behind  me  as  the  pygmies  have  in  you  ;  but 
you  can't  befriend  with  impunity  people  who  have 
been  dead  so  long  that  they  are  too  funny  to  keep 
their  coffins  to  themselves.  You  look  out!  You 
don't  want  an  action  for  assault  with  intent  to  kill 
brought  against  you,  I  reckon.  I  think  I  may 
promise  that  Mr.  Shattuck  will  do  nothing  about  this 
offence  —  if  it  is  not  repeated.  At  least,  I  would 
go  that  far  myself,"  he  concluded,  with  an  air  of 
prompting  his  friend's  generosity. 

But  Shattuck  said  nothing.  His  whole  interest  in 
the  present  moment  had  given  way  to  that  suggestion 
of  a  strange  sound  in  the  midnight  and  what  it  might 
signify.  He  still  hung  on  the  back  of  the  chair,  his 
hat  in  bis  listless  hands,  but  his  face  was  turned  tow 
ard  the  purplish  black  square  of  the  window,  and  his 
meditative  eyes  dwelt  upon  the  inscrutable  darkness 
that  encompassed  the  pygmy  burying-ground. 

Adelaide  had  seen,  in  a  sort  of  numb  despair,  her 
denial  of  the  deed  swallowed  up  in  her  admission  of 
the  threat.  In  her  confused  sense  of  the  fact,  and  her 
loss  of  courage  before  the  inexorability  of  the  con 
viction,  as  it  were,  out  of  her  own  mouth,  she  could 
only  reiterate  :  "  I  didn't  do  it !  I  didn't  do  it !" 
And  her  stunned  immobility  of  aspect  seemed  sullen, 
and  her  tone  was  interpreted  as  dogged. 


244        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  Oh,  well,  all  right,"  said  Rhodes,  lightly.  He 
could  be  casual  enough  now,  since  it  could  be  made 
plain  to  all  the  country-side  that  it  was  no  affair  of 
his,  but  a  quarrel  between  Shattuck  and  the  fugitive 
Yates  and  the  deserted  wife.  "  Come,  come,  Shat 
tuck,"  again  clapping  his  heavy  hand  on  his  friend's 
shoulder,  "  we  must  be  a-jogging." 

Ephraim,  too,  had  the  voice  of  accusation  in  his 
farewell.  "  I  ain't  s'prised  none,"  he  said,  looking 
over  his  shoulder,  with  a  lowering  melancholy  gleam 
in  his  eyes  under  the  broad  brim  of  his  hat,  as  he 
turned  toward  the  door — "  I  ain't  s'prised  none  ef 
Fee  makes  ye  pay  fur  that  thar  leetle  colt,  an'  takes 
it  'fore  the  court."  He  paused  upon  the  threshold 
after  a  heavy  lumbering  step  or  two.  "  I  reckon  he 
won't  make  ye  pay  much,  though ;  an'  Fee  ain't  one 
nohow  ter  set  store  on  courts,"  he  added,  relenting. 

She  stood  there,  arraigned  on  her  own  hearth-stone, 
silent,  pale,  her  face  seeming  as  rigid  as  if  it  were 
some  changeless  symmetry  of  marble,  in  the  interval 
while  they  mounted  their  horses  and  rode  way.  The 
sound  of  the  hoofs  came,  then  ceased  as  a  marshy  dip 
intervened,  and  rose  on  the  air  once  more  from  the 
farther  side,  and  dulled  in  the  distance  to  silence. 
The  throbbing  of  the  cataract  asserted  itself  anew. 
From  every  weed  growing  rank  about  the  fence  cor 
ners,  from  amongst  the  vines  over  the  porch,  vibrated 
the  voice  of  the  myriad  nocturnal  insects,  chiming 
and  chiming  interminably.  Only  the  irresponsive 
darkness  without  met  her  eye  as  she  still  mechani 
cally  gazed  through  the  doorway  where  the  visitors 
had  disappeared. 

Letitia  had  sunk  down  in  the  great  spacious  high- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        245 

backed  chair  on  which  Shattuck  had  leaned.  It  was 
a  half-reclining  posture,  to  whose  languors  her  slen- 
derness  and  drooping  grace  lent  a  sort  of  individual 
ity,  and  she  looked  like  a  child  half  recumbent  in 
the  corner,  both  hands  clasping  one  of  its  arms.  Her 
curling  hair,  a  tress  or  two  falling  on  her  forehead, 
the  rest  drawn  back  and  tied  at  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
whence  the  ends  all  escaped,  seemed  longer  as  her 
head  drooped.  Her  eyes  for  the  moment  were  upon 
the  fire.  When  she  suddenly  lifted  them,  they  shone 
like  sapphires,  with  crystalline  splendor,  and  Ade 
laide,  in  amazement,  saw  that  they  were  full  of  tears 
— saw  them  thus  that  night  for  the  first  and  last  time 
in  all  her  life. 

"  How  could  ye  have  done  it  2"  she  exclaimed. 
"  Ye  wicked  heart !  Ye  cruel,  evil  soul !" 

"  Litt,"  cried  Adelaide,  aghast,  "  ye  ain't  believin' 
what  them  men  said  ter  me?  Ye  'ain't  turned  agin 
me  too  ?" 

She  looked  down  piteously  at  the  girl ;  then  as  she 
stooped  to  lift  the  baby,  her  hands  trembled,  and  she 
fumbled  so  that  Moses  made  some  shift  to  raise  his 
own  indolent  bulk  and  snuggle  into  her  arms. 

"  Believe  them  men  ?"  echoed  Letitia,  her  eyes  ablaze. 
"  I'd  b'lieve  his  word  agin  the  Bible.  I  ain't  keer- 
in'  'bout  t'others."  She  seemed,  with  a  toss  of  her 
head,  as  if  she  annihilated  them. 

Adelaide  could  not  account  for  her  own  words 
afterward.  It  was  so  strange  a  transition  from  her 
own  absorbing;  tumultuous,  insistent  troubles  to  in 
trude  into  the  subtle,  incipient,  unrealized  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  another. 

"Litt,"  she  said,  as  calmly  as  if  nothing  of  mo- 


246        IN    THE 

ment  had  happened — she  had  seated  herself,  with 
the  child's  face  close  to  her  cheek — "  ye  oughtn't  ter 
talk  that-a-way.  That  man  don't  keer  nuthin'  'bout 
you-uns." 

Letitia  slowly  turned  her  face.  There  was  in  its 
expression  many  a  phase  of  bitter  introspection, 
wonder  underlying  them  all,  and  a  sort  of  helpless 
despair  as  a  finality,  dumb  and  infinitely  pathetic. 
Somehow,  ignorant  as  the  other  was,  little  as  she 
could  have  described  or  differentiated  it,  she  became 
sharply  aware  of  the  wound  she  had  dealt,  the  poig 
nant  rankling  of  the  heart  that  received  it.  She 
sought,  in  a  panic  of  regret  and  self-reproach,  to  nul 
lify  it. 

"  Ye  don't  keer,  though,"  she  clumsily  tried  to 
laugh  it  off.  "  Ye  be  always  a-tellin'  ez  how  ye  be 
no  favorite  'mongst  the  men  folks,  an'  'pear  ter  think 
it's  a  sorter  feather  in  yer  cap  ter  be  too  ch'ice  an' 
smart  fur  the  gineral  run." 

To  her  surprise,  the  girl  showed  no  resentment.  It 
seemed  that  that  calamitous  possibility  had  dwarfed 
every  other  consideration. 

"  I  ain't  keerin'  fur  sech  ez'them,"  she  said,  slowly, 
with  a  tremor  in  her  low  voice,  as  if  she  made  the 
distinction  clear  to  her  own  mind. 

The  sudden,  heavy  footfalls  of  Baker  Anderson 
sounded  upon  the  puncheons.  He  had  repaired  to 
the  wood-pile  for  pine  knots,  and  he  seemed,  in  heap 
ing  them  upon  the  fire,  to  seek  to  make  amends  for 
a  dereliction  of  duty,  plain  to  his  own  sense  if  not  to 
others. 

"  I  didn't  know  what  in  thunder  I  oughter  hev  said 
or  done,  Mis'  Yates,"  he  remarked,  as  he  knelt  on 


247 

one  knee  on  the  hearth,  his  square,  boyish  face  show 
ing  its  grave  sympathy  as  the  white  light  streamed 
up  the  chimney.  "I  didn't  know  but  what  whilst 
them  men  war  a-sassin'  round  so  'twould  be  the  right 
way  ter  pertect  the  fambly  ter  take  down  my  rifle 
tor  'em." 

Letitia's  face  was  aflame.  "  Thar's  been  too  much 
o'  takin'  down  rifles  a'ready.  Leave  that  ter  Ade 
laide." 

Baker,  still  in  his  humble  posture,  turned  his  eyes 
toward  her,  a  clumsy  sneer  upon  his  blunt  features. 
"  Ef  ye  'low  Mis'  Yates  done  sech  ez  that,  I  wonder 
ye  air  willin'  ter  bide  with  her.  Whyn't  ye  go 
home  ?" 

Once  more  her  eyes,  with  their  jewelled  effect,  so 
crystalline  a  blue  they  were,  shone  upon  him,  fiery 
and  fierce.  "  I'll  bide  with  that  thar  rifle.  I'll  watch 
it  by  day,  an'  I'll  guard  it  by  night.  'Twon't  send  a 
ball  agin  soon  ter  scorch  his  head.  I  saw  his  hair 
all  whar  'twar  singed.  An' " — she  turned  suddenly 
upon  Adelaide,  who  was  quaking  beneath  the  storm 
her  ill-considered  words  had  raised — "  ef  ye  tell  me 
he  don't  think  nuthin'  of  me,  I  tell  you-uns  I  could 
think  o'  him  a  thousand  years  without  a  *  thanky.'  " 

She  sat  erect  in  her  chair,  flushed  and  defiant.  She 
suddenly  drooped  back  into  her  former,  half-recum 
bent  posture,  and  again  burst  into  tears. 

Adelaide,  her  nerves  all  strained  and  jarring,  feel 
ing  at  fault  to  have  elicited  this  outburst  in  the  pres 
ence  of  Baker  Anderson,  who  was  something  of  a 
gossip,  and  with  the  false  accusations  and  reproaches, 
the  danger  and  the  trouble  of  her  own  position  still 
pressing  heavily  on  her,  could  but  fall  a-weeping  too. 


248        IN    THE 

"  I  'ain't  got  but  one  friend  in  the  worP,"  she  said, 
clasping  her  child.  "  An'  hyar  he  is." 

"  Yes,  an'  he'll  be  yer  frien'  ez  long  ez  he  needs 
ye,  an'  no  longer,"  said  the  tactless  Baker,  who  had 
no  talent  for  woe,  and  who  hardly  entered  into  the 
emotions  of  either  woman,  except  to  grasp  the  di 
vision  of  their  friendship. 

He  thought  them  dreary  company  that  evening, 
and  that  they  were  much  given  to  silent  tears,  which 
were  troublesome,  cowardly  things  for  which  Baker 
Anderson  had  never  found  any  use. 


XII. 

FELIX  GUTHRIE  rode  far  and  fast  that  afternoon. 
The  pillage  of  his  herds  fired  his  blood,  and  his 
anger  lent  motive  power  to  his  sloth.  Many  a  mile 
his  search  led  him  through  the  tangled  mountain 
woods,  and  in  devious  ways  along  the  craggy  ledges, 
the  sun  sinking  low  in  the  sky,  the  reeking  horse 
flecked  with  foam,  before  the  slaughtered  beef  was 
at  last  found,  far  astray — according  to  the  old  herd 
er's  report.  Long  before  he  reached  the  spot  the 
circling  flight  of  the  strong-winged  mountain  vul 
tures,  high  in  the  air,  served  to  verify  the  story. 
Others  rose  gibbering  from  their  quarry  as  his  pant 
ing  horse  galloped  up  the  slope.  He  paused  to 
assure  himself  how  plain  his  brand  was  marked  upon 
the  creature's  hide.  It  had  been  killed,  then,  in  de 
fiance  of  the  name  of  Felix  Guthrie,  and  the  idea 
brought  the  hot  blood  into  his  cheek.  Killed  for 
spite  or  for  a  purpose  ?  And  what  purpose  ?  The 
choicest  cuts  only  were  taken,  and  the  great  carcass 
left  to  waste  and  for  the  buzzards.  He  pondered 
vaguely  as  he  once  more  put  his  foot  into  the 
stirrup. 

"  Somebody  ez  likes  ter  feed  on  beef,"  he  mut 
tered  his  conclusion.  "  They  'lowed  I'd  never  find 
it  out  till  the  cattle  war  rounded  up  in  the  fall ;  then 
think  a  wolf  cotch  'em  so  fur  from  home."  Sud- 


250        IN    THE 

denly  the  conviction  smote  him  that  the  larder  which 
the  beef  had  served  could  hardly  be  distant.  "  They 
wouldn't  want  ter  lug  the  meat  fur,"  he  said.  He 
flung  himself  into  the  saddle,  riding  slowly  through 
the  pathless  forest,  guided  only  by  the  sun  in  the 
sky,  the  shadows  on  the  ground.  He  seemed  as 
native  to  these  deep  seclusions  as  if  he  had  been 
bred  a  savage  thing  in  their  midst.  And  yet  he  had 
never  before  traversed  their  intricacies.  His  adap 
tation  to  the  conditions  of  these  unknown  fastnesses 
was  like  a  worldling's  facile  mastery  of  the  ways  of 
a  strange  city.  He  looked  about  him  with  the  spec 
ulative  interest  of  a  new-comer.  Once,  when  the 
woods  gave  way  upon  the  crest  of  a  precipice,  he  rose 
in  his  stirrups  to  gaze  over  the  jungle  of  the  laurel 
and  upon  the  great  mountain  panorama  stretching  to 
the  horizon.  Here  were  landmarks  that  he  recog 
nized,  and  again  features  of  the  landscape  all  strange 
to  his  experience. 

"  I  never  knowed  ez  folks  lived  hyarabouts,"  he 
observed,  in  surprise.  "  Ef  I  ain't  powerful  out'n 
my  reckoning,  Crazy  Zebedee's  cell  mus'  be  some- 
whar  nigh." 

He  sighed  deeply  for  the  thought  as  he  slowly 
took  his  way  once  more  into  the  dense  dark-green 
leafage  of  the  woods  ;  the  very  sky  was  shut  out,  and 
the  ethereal  blue  and  purple  tints  of  the  great  moun 
tain  masses,  that  seemed  to  express  the  idea  of  light 
almost  as  definitely  as  the  luminous  heavens,  were 
withdrawn,  leaving  a  sense  of  loss  and  monotony, 
like  the  vanishing  mirage  of  a  desert.  And  in  the 
more  heavy  glooms  of  the  shadows  he  sighed  again 
as  if  they  weighed  upon  him. 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.       251 

"  Zeb  hed  ruther  hcv  hed  this  than  the  jail  in 
town,"  he  muttered,  "  an'  so  he  runned  away,  an' 
hid  hyarabouts.  I  dun'no'  ef  he  war  so  darned 
crazy ;  the  trees  air  mighty  green,  an'  it  air  sorter 
peaceful  out'n  the  sight  an'  the  sound  o'  folks." 

He  had  a  melancholy  affinity  with  sorrow — from 
so  long  ago  had  its  fellowship  with  him  dated.  He 
realized,  with  almost  the  strength  of  divination,  the 
sentiments  of  the  fate  that  the  distraught  creature 
had  wrought  out  here.  He  gazed  with  a  sort  of 
vicarious  recognition  at  the  shadows,  at  the  grew- 
some  crags,  at  the  deep,  dark  waters  of  a  pool,  where 
some  riving  of  the  rocks  suffered  them  to  gather 
lake-like.  He  wondered,  with  a  morbid  alertness  of 
fancy,  how  did  the  forest  look  to  the  hot  and  fevered 
brain  ? — what  strange  distortions  of  fact  metamor 
phosed  these  simple  and  majestic  dendritic  forms, 
and  the  crags,  and  the  waters  ?  It  was  a  severe  ten 
sion  of  the  sympathetic  power  of  reduplicating  anoth 
er's  sentiment.  He  hardly  knew  what  hideous  phan 
tasy  of  speculation  had  crept  into  his  mind.  So  far  it 
had  swung  from  its  wonted  poise  that  when  a  sudden, 
faint,  blood-curdling  shriek  of  foolish  laughter  rang 
through  the  utter  silence,  he  did  not  for  an  instant 
credit  its  reality.  He  only  drew  up  his  horse  with  a 
hasty  convulsive  clutch  upon  the  rein,  a  cold  tremor 
stealing  over  him,  and  sat  motionless,  a  terrible  su 
perstition  quickening  his  breath  and  dilating  his  eye. 

Naught  stirred.  The  gloomy  primeval  magnifi 
cence  of  the  forest  seemed  tenantlcss.  Adown  none 
of  those  green  ferny  aisles,  where  the  light  trembled 
to  intrude,  could  a  willing  fancy  discern  even  a  flit 
ting  dryadic  shape,  so  native  to  these  haunts.  A 


252        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

fairy  ring  was  on  the  grass  beneath  a  tulip-tree.  But 
who  did  see  the  dance  ?  Not  even  the  wind  might 
come  and  go,  for  the  woods  would  be  lonely  and 
were  all  a-brooding.  Far,  far  less  possible  than  any 
was  the  wild,  dishevelled,  haggard  apparition  that 
Felix  Guthrie  strained  his  eyes,  yet  feared,  to  see. 
And  when  the  laugh  rose  again,  faint,  faint  from  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  ending  in  a  wild  derisive  cackle, 
he  became  all  at  once  impressed  with  its  genuine 
ness,  and  the  idea  of  "  Crazy  Zeb's  cell "  flashed  into 
his  mind  again,  coupled  with  the  recollection  of  his 
injury  and  the  object  of  his  search. 

"  The  very  place  !  Hevin'  a  reg'lar  barbecue  off'n 
my  beef,  the  lazy,  shif'less  half-livers,"  he  exclaimed, 
angrily,  forgetting  his  terrors,  although  his  face  had 
not  regained  its  wonted  hue. 

He  was  all  alert  now,  erect  in  the  saddle,  the  reins 
drawn  closely  in  his  hand,  keenly  peering  to  the 
right,  and  again  to  the  left,  as  if  he  had  some  defi 
nite  goal  in  mind.  For  alien  though  he  was  to  the 
place,  he  had  heard  it  frequently  described  in  those 
horror-loving  tales  of  the  winter-night  firesides. 

"  A  gate  " — he  repeated  the  oft-spoken  words — "  a 
gate  of  rocks  that  looks  like  it  mought  open  on  hell ; 
a  gate,  an'  a  windin'  way  walled  in,  an'  a  big  hollow 
in  the  solid  cliff  ez  would  be  a  cave  'ceptin'  it  air 
open  on  one  side,  high,  high  above  the  ruver." 

And  then  the  pulsing  of  the  current  of  a  stream 
made  its  impression  upon  his  senses.  He  had  not 
heard  it  before,  so  essentially  sylvan  a  sound  it  was, 
its  monotony  so  germane  to  the. silence.  It  was  near 
at  hand,  this  river ;  and  here  was  the  deep  pool 
wherein  its  hurrying  tributary  was  lulled,  and  dallied 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     253 

quiescent  by  the  way.  He  lifted  his  eyes  to  two 
great  neighboring  crags,  each  beetling  toward  the 
other,  the  first  of  a  tunnel-like  series.  A  gateway  ? 
Could  even  fancy  have  wrought  these  simple  forms 
into  the  semblance  of  a  portal  ? — he  marvelled  with 
that  incredulity  which  possesses  the  mind  when  look 
ing  for  the  first  time  upon  some  reputed  similitude 
in  nature  to  an  artificial  object.  Nevertheless,  he 
slowly  dismounted,  intently  gazing  all  the  while, 
and  as  he  gazed  the  resemblance  grew  upon  him. 
So  definitely  had  the  idea  tutored  his  fancy  that 
he  had  not  a  doubt  when  he  hitched  his  horse 
in  the  dense  covert  of  the  laurel,  and  took  his  way 
across  the  narrowest  portion  of  the  stream  by  means 
of  scrambling  cat-like  along  a  pendulous  branch  of 
an  overhanging  tree,  and  springing  lightly  from  its 
elastic  extremity  near  to  the  opposite  bank.  He 
waded  out,  his  long  boots  full  of  water — a  small 
matter  to  a  hardy  woodsman,  save  that  he  could  hear 
the  splash  which  thereafter  accompanied  each  step,  as 
his  feet  were  lifted  in  the  roomy  integuments,  thus 
preventing  a  noiseless  approach.  When  he  was  at 
last  beneath  the  great  jagged  gray  rocks,  with  their 
niches  filled  here  with  moss,  and  again  flaunting  a 
tangled  vine,  he  paused  and  looked  up,  a  smile  of 
iconoclastic  ridicule  upon  his  face.  So  this  was 
what  was  thought  to  resemble  a  gate  by  the  few  who 
knew  the  place.  And  then  he  was  minded  to  im 
agine  how  like  an  infinitely  magnified  portal  it  was 
— so  gaunt,  so  vast,  so  grim  and  grewsome,  leading 
down  to  the  dark  unknown !  "  Like  the  gates  o' 
hell  fur  true,"  he  muttered,  plunging  into  the 
gloomy,  tunnel-like  way. 


254        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

For  one  moment  after  the  darkness  had  enveloped 
him  he  fancied  he  heard  a  step  behind  him — a 
shambling,  stumbling  step — and  the  snuffling  snort 
of  a  frightened  horse.  Pie  paused  in  the  narrow 
corridor,  and  looked  back,  but  the  tortuous  turnings 
of  the  passage  obscured  the  entrance,  and  the  light 
that  it  admitted  was  feeble  and  far  behind.  He 
heard  his  own  breath  in  a  quickly  drawn  susurrus  ; 
it  echoed  sibilantly.  He  might  have  counted  the 
throbs  of  his  heart.  It  was  a  chilly  place,  but  the 
surge  of  excitement  warmed  his  blood,  and  with  an 
other  turn  he  had  burst  forth  from  the  narrow  pas- 


For  all  his  expectancy,  his  preparation  for  the 
emergency,  he  was  dazed  for  a  moment  as  he  stood 
in  the  open  space  facing  the  great  western  sky. 
The  breadth  of  this  impression  left  scant  room  for 
detail — a  charring  fire,  where  only  an  ember  glowed  ; 
a  recumbent,  somnolent  figure  wrapped  in  a  blanket 
beside  it ;  two  men  playing  cards  on  a  saddle ;  a 
horse's  head  looking  out  from  a  shadowy  niche ;  and 
a  cry  of  rage  as  a  man  who  was  grooming  the  creat 
ure  turned,  with  the  curry-comb  in  his  hand.  The 
sound  was  like  a  bugle  call  to  rouse  the  others.  It 
rang  through  Guthrie's  senses  with  a  menacing 
clamor.  Here  was  matter  far  more  significant  than 
cattle-stealing;  he  had  tracked  home  some  terrible 
deed,  he  knew  by  the  unguarded  anger  of  the  star 
tled  tones.  His  logic,  such  as  he  had,  made  itself 
felt  in  deeds.  Long  before  the  slow  processes  of 
his  brain  had  consciously  evolved  the  idea  of  danger, 
he  had  drawn  his  pistols,  and  stood,  his  back  against 
the  wall,  a  weapon  in  either  hand. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY.      255 

It  was  an  attitude  that  commended  a  temporizing 
policy  and  invited  parley.  Taken  off  their  guard, 
the  party  made  an  ineffectual  effort  to  secure  their 
arms.  The  man  beside  the  horse  had  indeed  grasped 
a  rifle  that  leaned  against  the  wall,  but  it  was  an  old- 
fashioned  weapon,  whose  single  discharge  would  ex 
haust  its  offensive  and  defensive  capacities,  leaving 
him  at  a  pitiable  disadvantage  against  the  six- 
shooters  which  the  intruder  held,  and  therefore  he 
forbore  even  to  sight  it.  One  of  the  card-players 
had  struggled  up  on  his  knee,  his  hand  behind  him 
grasping  his  revolver  in  his  pistol  pocket.  In  view 
of  the  bead  drawn  upon  him,  he  did  not  dare  to  pull 
it ;  he  moved  not  a  muscle.  The  other  held  noth 
ing  more  deadly  than  a  "  bobtailed  flush,"  which  a 
moment  ago  he  had  regarded  as  the  extremest  spite 
of  fate.  There  was  something  ludicrous  in  his  petri 
fied  attitude,  as  he  sat  mechanically  holding  his  cards 
before  him,  his  mind  apparently  indissolubly  asso 
ciated  with  the  game,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  Guthrie  as 
if  he  had  been  some  amazing  combination — a  "  show 
of  hands"  altogether  uncalled  for  and  beyond  all 
limits  of  expectation.  To  none  of  them  was  the 
moment  charged  with  such  signal  force  as  to  Steve 
Yates,  rising  from  his  affected  slumber,  for  it  was 
only  by  feigning  thus  among  his  merry  comrades 
that  he  could  be  alone  with  his  own  thoughts.  He 
turned  his  face,  full  of  astonished  anxiety,  upon 
Guthrie,  and  then  he  turned  it  away,  suffused  with 
shame,  anticipating  accusation.  It  came  upon  the 
instant. 

"  Hyar  ye  air,  Steve  Yates  !  This  is  whar  ye  hev 
disappeared  to,  hey?  I'd  do  yer  wife  an'  Mose  a 


256   IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

favior  ef  I  war  ter  fill  up  yer  carcass  with  lead.  An' 
ef  I  bed  it  ter  spare,  I'd  do  it." 

Guthrie  looked  about,  expectant  of  the  signs  of 
some  illegal  occupation — not  moonshining,  for  his 
judgment  and  conscience  could  approve  of  this  de 
fiance  of  the  law,  as  well  as  his  heart  bear  it  sym 
pathy,  but  something  that  outraged  the  popular 
sense  of  right.  There  was  naught,  unless  those  fine- 
limbed  shadowy  equine  figures  might  suggest  it. 

"  Hoss-thievin',  hey  ?  An'  bed  ter  steal  my  cattle 
ter  feed  ye  on  beef  whilst  hid  out  f ' 

"  Say,  now,  Fee,  war  that  yer  cow  ?"  cried  Beck 
ett,  the  man  under  the  insufficient  protection  of  the 
"  bobtailed  flush."  Perhaps  the  fact  of  being  a  help 
less  object  of  pity  to  his  opponents  both  at  cards 
and  at  arms  quickened  his  sense  of  expedients,  and 
lubricated  his  clumsy  tongue.  "  We-uns  didn't  know 
it.  Durned  ef  we  don't  pay  ye  fur  it,"  with  an  air 
of  unctuous  sympathy. 

"  Naw,  ye  won't,"  retorted  Guthrie — "  ye  won't, 
now.  I  won't  tech  yer  lyin',  thievin',  black-hearted 
money !" 

A  sadden  anxiety  crossed  the  face  of  Derridge, 
who  still  stood  by  the  horse's  side.  "  It's  jes'  ez 
well  ye  don't  want  our  money,  fur  we  ain't  got  none" 
he  said,  flashing  a  significant  glance  at  the  card-play 
er,  who  was  still  mechanically  holding  his  cards  well 
together,  although  his  opponent's  hand  lay  scattered 
on  the  saddle  that  served  as  board.  "  Pete  means 
we'd  gin  ye  a  beastis  fur  the  one  we  tuk.  But  cf  ye 
don't  want  her,  go  lackin'."  He  sarcastically  waved 
his  hand,  and  the  gesture  in  a  measure  shielded 
the  other  hand  as  he  slyly  cocked  the  rifle.  "  Steve 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.       257 

Yates  liev  got  inter  a  sorter  difficult  with  the  law, 
an'  axed  we-uns  ter  take  him  in,"  continued  Derridge, 
recovering  his  reasoning  faculties  from  the  chaos  of 
his  fear  and  surprise,  and  adding  to  them  the  pro 
tean  influences  of  imagination.  "  We-uns  stop  by 
hyar  at  Crazy  Zeb's  cell  whenst  ridin'  arter  cattle,  ter 
swop  lies,  an'  take  a  leetle  drink,  an'  play  kyerds; 
leastwise  the  t' others,  not  me.  Them  boys  air  get- 
tin'  ter  be  tur'ble  gamesters,  a-bettin'  thar  money 
an'  gear  an'  sech,  an'  wunst  in  a  while  hevin'  a  reg'- 
lar  knock-down  an'  drag-out  fight.  I  ain't  s'prised 
none  ef  the  church  folks  in  the  cove  hears  o'  thar 
goin's  on  an'  turns  'em  out ;  they  bein'  members  in 
good  standing,  too ;  an'  I  wouldn't  blame  pa'son  an' 
the  deacons  an'  sech.  Naw,  sir,  I  wouldn't." 

"  Me  nuther,"  said  Guthrie,  his  vigilance  relaxed, 
his  credulity  coerced.  All  at  once  the  gathering  of 
the  coterie  in  this  sequestered  place,  that  had  been  so 
mysterious  a  moment  ago,  seemed  readily  explicable. 
Jollity,  companionship,  card-playing,  sloth — all  com 
bined  to  attract  the  mountain  loafers,  expert  to  fend 
off  work  with  any  odd  dallying  with  time.  He  felt 
the  pistol  in  each  hand  a  cumbrous  superfluity.  He 
did  not  realize  why  he  had  drawn  them,  why  he  had 
so  quickly  assumed  the  aggressive.  He  wondered 
that,  interrupted  thus  in  their  pacific  absorptions,  they 
did  not  reproach  him.  It  was  no  longer  in  suspicion, 
but  with  a  sort  of  attempt  to  justify  his  precipitan 
cy,  that  he  demanded,  "  What  hev  Steve  Yates  been 
a-doin'  of  ter  run  him  off  from  home  an'  be  searched 
fur  ez  dead  ?" 

He  had  unconsciously  moved  several  paces  from 
the  wall;  the  weapons  in  his  hands  were  lowered  and 
17 


258      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

hung  listlessly ;  the  fire-light  slanted  athwart  the 
place  ;  the  monstrous  elongated  shadows  of  the  men 
extended  across  the  floor  and  up  the  side  of  the 
niche  ;  a  bee  went  booming  by  ;  the  river  sang ;  and 
the  entrance  behind  him  was  so  noiseless  that  these 
trivial  sounds  he  heard,  and  not  Cheever's  step. 

The  leader  of  the  gang  wore  an  excited  face  as  he 
suddenly  came  in.  It  turned  pale  in  the  moment. 
He  threw  his  arm  across  his  eyes  with  a  wild,  hoarse 
cry,  while  the  others  stared  in  amazement,  until  Bob 
Millroy,  also  entering,  his  superstition  always  on  the 
alert,  was  reminded  of  that  strange  intruder  here  re 
vealed  once  before  to  Cheever,  then  visible  to  none 
else. 

"  Thar,  now !  the  extry  man !"  he  cried  out,  hardly 
less  discomposed. 

Guthrie,  a  trifle  shaken  by  the  uncomprehended 
commotion,  reverted  to  the  instinct  of  self-defence. 
He  perceived,  with  a  flutter  of  fear  and  a  pang  of 
self-reproach,  that  his  remitted  watchfulness  had  per 
mitted  him  to  be  surrounded.  They  had  all  drawn 
their  pistols  in  the  interval.  He  spoke  upon  his  im 
pulse.  "  Lemme  git  out'n  this !"  he  growled,  half 
articulately,  advancing  upon  Cheever,  intending  to 
push  by  to  the  only  exit.  Cheever,  restored  by  the 
sight  of  the  revolvers  and  the  sudden  recognition  of 
the  young  mountaineer's  face,  laid  a  hand  upon  Guth- 
rie's  shoulder,  grinding  his  teeth,  and  with  a  con 
centrated  fury  in  his  eyes. 

"  So  ye  hev  fund  out  whar  we-uns  war,  ye  peekin', 
pry  in'  sneak ;  she  tole  ye  ez  Steve  war  along  o'  wc-uns 
— the  leetle  Pettingill  she-devil,  that  frazzle-headed 
vixen  of  a  Letishy  !" 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      259 

Her  name  stunned  Outline  in  some  sort ;  lie  stood 
wide  -  eyed,  quiescent,  in  amazed  dismay,  hearing 
naught  of  the  babel  of  remonstrance  from  the  others  : 

& 

"  Ilesh  !  hesh  !  he  dun'no'  nuthin'.  Don't  tell  him 
nuthin' !  Let  him  be — let  him  be  !" 

Guthrie  realized  the  situation  only  when  Cheever, 
whose  grip  prevented  the  use  of  the  pistols,  cried 
suddenly,  "  Take  that !"  and  he  heard  his  flesh  tear 
under  the  knife,  and  felt  a  pain  like  the  pangs  of 
dissolution,  as  his  warm  blood  gushed  forth — "  an' 
that!  an'  that!" 

The  next  moment  all  the  thunders  of  heaven  seemed 
loosed  in  the  cavern.  How  he  wrenched  himself 
away  he  could  never  say.  He  only  knew  that  he  was 
firing  alternately  the  pistols  in  both  hands,  retreating 
backward  through  the  dark  tunnel.  He  flung  him 
self  upon  the  horse  that  stood  saddled  and  bridled 
cropping  the  grass  without,  and  he  was  miles  away 
before  he  realized  that  the  hot  pursuit,  which  he  had 
heard  at  first  in  full  hue  and  cry  .after  him,  must  of 
necessity  be  futile,  since  it  was  Cheever's  incompara 
ble  steed  that  in  his  haste  he  bestrode,  and  not  his 
own. 

He  felt  a  certain  glow  of  achievement,  a  fervor  of 
pride  in  his  prowess  ;  no  slight  thing  it  was  to  have 
escaped  with  his  life  from  that  desperate  gang  of  out 
laws.  With  a  kind  of  valiant  boastftilness  he  made 
light  of  his  wounds  as  his  step-mother  dressed  them, 
herself  the  impersonation  of  a  panther  whose  young 
is  wounded,  snarling  and  fierce  and  tender.  She  had 
a  sort  of  reverential  admiration  of  his  courage,  his 
ferocity,  that  her  own  savagery  had  fostered.  It  was 
said  in  the  cove  that  her  semblance  of  kindness  and 


260        IN    THE 

affection  for  him  was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  her 
respect  for  anybody  that  was  a  "  better  man  "  than 
she — a  pluckier  fighter.  She,  too,  would  admit  no 
efficacy  in  aught  that  Cheever  could  do. 

"  I'll  be  bound  them  pistol  balls  o'  yourn  worked 
many  a  button-hole  whar  thar  warn't  no  buttons  in 
the  gyarmints  ter  match  !"  she  cried,  bitterly  joying 
in  the  possible  execution  of  the  shots. 

But  Ephraim  surveyed  the  yawning  slashes  with  a 
groan,  and  went  with  averted  eyes  hastily  out  of  the 
door,  and  an  old  house-dog  stood  beside  Felix,  and 
wheezed  pitifully  and  licked  his  hand  with  an  un- 
recked-of  sympathy. 

Felix  was  out  next  day,  but  with  that  singular 
parchment-like  pallor  that  ensues  on  a  great  loss  of 
blood.  Mrs.  Guthrie  had  remonstrated  against  all 
exertion,  then  openly  applauded  his  decision. 

"  Ef  'twar  you-uns,  Eph,"  she  said,  looking  after 
Felix  as  he  rode  Cheever's  horse  down  the  winding 
mountain  way,  "  I  mought  look  for'ard  ter  three  solid 
weeks  a-nussin'  ye ;  ye  would  be  tucked  up  in  bed. 
But  twenty  yoke  o'  oxen  couldn't  hold  Fee  Guthrie 
down  ;  he  couldn't  even  die  handy,  like  other  folks. 
He  hev  got  the  very  sperit  o'  livin'  in  him.  Ye  mark 
my  words,  he  ain't  a-goin'  ter  die  handy." 

And  in  truth  it  was  a  very  spirited  and  gallant  fig 
ure  that  the  fine,  clean-limbed  roan  carried  down  into 
the  cove.  Guthrie's  curling  hair  flaunted  back  from 
his  broad  shoulders;  his  wide-brimmed  hat  was  cocked 
to  one  side  ;  his  spurs  jingled  on  the  heels  of  his 
great  boots.  And  he  sat  in  the  saddle  proudly  erect, 
in  defiance  of  the  sore-rankling  wounds — the  knife 
had  not  had  the  mercy  to  be  sharp,  and  in  lieu  of 


IN  THE   "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      261 

clean  cuts  had  torn  and  jagged  the  flesh.  There  was 
one  wound  sharper  than  all,  that  no  blade  had  dealt, 
that  was  so  keen,  so  deep,  so  insidious  that  it  made 
a  coward  of  him,  and  set  astir  a  chill  in  his  blood  and 
a  quiver  in  his  heart. 

It  was  one  word — Letitia — from  lips  that  he  had 
never  thought  to  hear  it.  Letitia !  So  she  knew  of 

o 

Steve  Yates's  crime ;  and  more  than  once  he  won 
dered  what  it  might  be,  pausing  to  look  absently 
down  with  unseeing  eyes,  as  his  stirrup-irons,  sweep 
ing  through  the  blooming  weeds  that  bordered  the 
bridle-path,  sent  the  petals  flying.  Was  she  a  party, 
too,  to  the  deception  the  wife  maintained,  to  her  pre 
tended  desertion,  her  affected  ignorance  of  Yates's 
whereabouts  ?  "  Letishy  oughtn't  ter  be  mixed  up  in 
sech,"  Guthrie  said  to  himself.  "  She  oughtn't  ter 
be  abidin'  along  o'  Mis'  Yates,  whose  husband  air  hid 
out  with  a  gang  o'  evil-doers,  purtcndin'  ter  be  dead 
an'  disappeared.  Litt  oughtn't  ter  know  about  thar 
thieveries  an'  dens.  It  can't  tech  her — thar  ill-got 
gains — but  she  oughtn't  ter  know  secrets  agin  the 
law." 

He  remembered,  with  a  throb  between  anger  and 
pain,  the  evenings  that  he  had  spent  at  the  Yates 
cabin,  the  air  of  desolate  sorrow  that  the  deserted  wife 
maintained,  even  when  she  seemed  to  seek  to  cast  it 
off,  and  to  respond  to  neighborly  kindness.  A  flush 
mounted  to  his  pallid  cheek,  he  so  resented  a  deceit 
sought  to  be  practised  upon  him.  And  how  ready  a 
gull  he  must  have  seemed,  he  thought,  with  a  sneer 
at  the  memory  of  his  cumbrous  phrases  of  hope  and 
consolation,  at  which  Letitia  had  not  scrupled  to 
laugh.  "  She  warn't  puttin'  on  no  lackadaisical  pro- 


262      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

tencc,"  he  thought,  with  a  glowing  eye.  "  She  hev 
got  the  truth  in  her  too  deep.  She  jes'  busied  her- 
se'f  a-spinnin'  ez  gay  ez  a  bird,  an'  tole  them  queer 
talcs  ez  Mr.  Shattuck  hev  gin  out,  'bout  cave-dwellers 
long  time  ago,  an'  sun-worshippers,  an'  a  kentry  sunk 
in  the  sea,  named  Atlantis  or  sech  outlandish  word ; 
tole  'em  over  agin  nearly  every  evenin'.  An'  I  could 
listen  through  eternity !  She  hev  got  sech  smart 
ness  an'  mem'ry.  I  dun'no'  how  she  do  make  out  ter 
remember  sech  a  lot  o'  stuff.  An'  Mis'  Yates — a  de 
ceitful  sinner  that  woman  air ! — a-bustin'  out  cryin' 
agin,  fust  thing  ye  know.  Litt  oughtn't  ter  'sociate 
with  sech  ez  knows  secrets  agin  the  law." 


XIII. 

WITH  all  this  in  his  mind,  the  little  house,  coming 
in  sight  below  the  massive  dark-green  slope  of  the 
great  mountain,  seemed  to  Guthrie  to  hold  peculiar 
significance.  With  a  poignant  sentiment  which  he 
might  not  analyze,  he  watched  it  grow  from  a  mere 
speck  into  its  normal  proportions.  The  sun  flashed 
from  its  roof,  still  wet  with  the  dew,  but  the  shadows 
were  sombrely  green  in  the  yard.  Such  freshness 
the  great  oaks  breathed,  such  fragrance  the  pines  ! 
Adown  the  lane  the  cows  loitered,  going  forth  to 
their  pastures.  He  saw  a  mist,  dully  white,  move  in 
slow  convolutions  along  a  distant  purple  slope,  pause 
for  a  glistening  moment,  then  vanish  into  thin  air. 
Away  up  the  gorge  all  diurnal  fancies  trooped  into 
the  wide  liberties  of  endless  luminous  vistas  of  azure 
sunlit  mountains  beneath  the  shining  azure  heavens, 
the  ranges  and  valleys  changing  with  every  mood  of 
the  atmosphere,  with  the  harlequinade  of  the  clouds 
and  the  wind.  The  river,  with  all  the  graces  of  re 
flection,  presented  a  kaleidoscopic  comminglemcnt  of 
color — it  showed  the  grim  gray  rocks,  the  blue  sky, 
the  glow  of  the  rose-red  azalea,  the  many  gradations 
of  tint  in  the  overhanging  foliage  and  in  the  umber 
and  ochre  of  the  soil  of  the  steep  banks.  The  pon 
derous  cataract  fell  ceaselessly  with  its  keen,  swift, 
green  rush  above  and  its  maddening  white  swirl 


264      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

below.  On  the  bank  the  pygmy  burying-ground 
seemed  by  contrast  the  fullest  expression  of  quiet, 
with  its  deep  shadows  and  its  restful  sheen,  and  naught 
to  come  and  go  but  a  booming  bee  or  a  bird  upspring- 
ing  from  the  long  grass. 

All  was  imprinted  upon  his  consciousness  with  a 
distinctness  which  he  had  never  before  known,  which 
he  did  not  seek  to  interrogate  now.  It  seemed  to 
partake  of  the  significance  of  a  crisis  in  his  life,  and 
every  trifle  asserted  itself  and  laid  hold  upon  him. 

Letitia  was  sitting  upon  the  porch  in  a  low  rocking- 
chair.  He  recognized  her  from  far  away ;  but  when 
he  had  hitched  the  horse  at  the  gate  and  came  walk 
ing  slowly  up  the  path,  and  she  lifted  her  eyes  to 
meet  his  grave,  fixed  look,  there  was  something  in 
them  that  he  thought  he  had  never  before  seen — in 
finitely  beautiful,  indescribable  ;  a  mere  matter  of  ex 
pression,  perhaps,  for  the  luminous  quality  and  the 
fine  color  of  the  deep-blue  iris  were  as  familiar  even 
to  his  dreams  as  to  his  waking  sense.  It  seemed  a 
something  added  ;  it  served,  in  some  sort,  to  embel 
lish  the  very  curve  of  her  cheek,  the  curl  of  her  deli 
cate  lip,  the  waving  of  her  hair  where  it  was  gathered 
out  of  the  way  at  the  nape  of  her  white  neck. 

He  had  known  that  her  beauty  was  generally  held 
in  scant  esteem,  and  he  had  vaguely  wondered  to 
find  himself  in  contradictory  conviction  to  the  popu 
lar  sentiment.  He  had  welcomed  Shattuck's  protes 
tation  of  its  charm  as  a  trophy  of  its  high  deserts. 
He  remembered  this  now.  "  Shattuck  'lowed  she 
war  plumb  beautiful,  an'  hed  a  rare  face  ;  an'  she 
hev  !  she  hev  !  Thar's  nobody  looks  like  her." 

More  than  the  usual  interval  of  survey  warranted 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      265 

by  the  etiquette  of  salutation  passed  as  he  stood  by 
the  step  of  the  porch,  and  gazed  at  her  with  absorbed, 
questioning  eyes.  Her  light,  caustic  laughter  roused 
him. 

"  What  ails  ye  ter  kem  hyar  with  the  manners  o' 
a  harnt,  Fee  Guthrie  ;  not  speakin'  till  ye  air  spoke 
ter  ;  stare-gazin' " — she  opened  her  eyes  wide  with 
the  exaggeration  of  mimicry — "  ez  ef  me  an'  Moses 
war  some  unaccountable  animals  ez  ye  hed  kem  ter 
trap  ?" 

Then,  with  a  smile  that  seemed  to  have  all  the 
freshness  of  the  matutinal  hour  in  it,  she  bent  again 
to  her  work  of  hackling  flax.  No  arduous  job  was 
she  making  of  it.  The  hackle  was  placed  upon  the 
low  shelf-like  balustrade  close  by,  and  as  the  sway 
ing  of  the  rocking-chair  brought  her  forward  she 
would  sweep  the  mass  of  flax  in  her  hands  across  its 
sharp  wires,  drawing  all  the  fibres  through  as  she 
swung  back  again.  She  had  hardly  more  industrial 
an  aspect  than  a  thrush  poised  on  a  blooming  honey 
suckle  vine  that  ran  over  the  porch,  idly  rocking  in 
the  wind,  with  not  even  a  trill  in  his  throat  to  attest 
his  vocation  as  musician.  A  bundle  of  the  flax  lay 
in  a  chair  at  her  side,  and  another  in  her  lap;  and  as 
she  swayed  back  and  forth  some  of  the  fine,  silvery 
white  stuff  slipped  down  over  her  light  blue  dress  and 
on  the  floor  in  the  reach  of  Moses.  He  was  begin- 

O 

ning  to  appreciate  the  value  of  occupation,  and  could 
not  all  day  quiescently  resign  himself  to  the  passive 
development  of  teeth.  He  had  attained  the  age 
when  the  imitative  faculties  assert  themselves.  He 
had  furnished  himself  with  a  wisp  of  flax  from  the 
floor,  and  now  and  again  bent  his  fat  body  forward, 


266      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

swaying  the  wisp  to  and  fro  in  his  hand,  after  the 
manner  in  which  Letitia  passed  the  flax  over  the 
hackle,  then  sought  to  stuff  it  into  his  mouth — with 
him  a  test  of  all  manner  of  values.  Somehow  the 
meeting  of  his  callow,  unmeaning,  casual  glance,  for 
he  was  very  busy  and  ignored  the  new-comer,  dis 
concerted  Guthrie.  So  forlorn  was  he,  and  little  ! — 
his  future  was  an  unwritten  page,  and  what  bitter 
history  might  it  not  contain !  And  those  who  were 
nearest  to  him  were  framing  the  words  and  fashion 
ing  the  periods.  But  it  was  to  be  his  to  read !  A 
heavy  intimation  of  its  collocations  was  given  by 
the  recollection  of  his  father  yesterday  in  the  horse- 
thief's  gang — and  Stephen  Yates  once  had  an  honest 
name,  and  came  of  honest  stock !  Then  Guthrie 
thought  of  the  deceitful  mother,  and  he  sat  down  on 
the  step  with  a  sigh. 

"  Mo  light  ez  well !  mought  ez  well !"  he  said,  lugu 
briously,  unconsciously  speaking  aloud,  as  Letitia  ad 
jured  Moses  not  to  swallow  the  flax  and  choke  him 
self. 

"  He  hedn't  i  mought  ez  well,'  "  she  retorted,  tartly. 
Then,  for  the  infant's  benefit,  "  I  reckon,  though,  I 
could  get  hold  o'  the  eend  of  it  in  his  throat,  but 
Mose  would  feel  mighty  bad  when  I  h'isted  him  up 
on  my  spinnin'-wheel  an'  tuck  ter  spinnin'  him  all 


The  great  Dagon,  not  altogether  comprehending 
this  threat,  listened  with  an  attentive  bald  head  up 
turned,  a  damp  and  open  mouth,  his  two  bare  feet 
stretched  out  motionless,  one  above  the  other,  and 
his  decollete  red  calico  dress  quite  off  one  stalwart 
shoulder.  But  with  a  gurgle  and  a  bounce  he  let  it 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        267 

pass,  with  only  his  usual  sharp-tempered  squeal  of 
rebuke,  and  then  placidly  addressed  himself  anew  to 
discover  what  gustatory  qualities  lurked  in  the  un 
promising,  unsucculent  wisp  of  flax. 

"  Mose  an'  me  air  keepin'  house,"  observed  Letitia. 
"  Mis'  Yates  air  a-dryin'  apples  down  yander  by  the 
spring." 

Guthrie's  glance  discovered  the  mottled  calico 
dress  and  purple  sun-bonnet  of  Adelaide  at  some  dis 
tance  down  the  slope,  as  she  spread  the  fruit  upon  a 
series  of  planks  laid  in  the  sun. 

"  It  air  jes'  ez  well,"  he  said,  gloomily.  "  I  dun'no' 
cz  I  keer  ter  see  her  ter-day." 

Letitia,  as  she  swayed  forward  and  flung  the  flax 
across  the  wires,  cast  a  surprised  glance  upon  him. 
"  Ye  air  toler'ble  perlite  fur  so  soon  in  the  mornin' — 
I  notice  ginerally  ez  perliteness  grows  on  ye  ez  the 
day  goes  on — cornsiderin'  ye  air  a-settin'  on  her  door 
step,  an'  this  air  her  house." 

"  I  want  ter  see  jes'  you-uns,"  he  indirectly  de 
fended  himself.  He  took  off  his  hat,  the  wind  toss 
ing  his  curling  hair  as  he  leaned  backward  against 
the  post  of  the  porch  ;  he  started  to  speak  again, 
then  hesitated  uncertainly. 

If  she  noticed  that  he  had  lost  his  wonted  slow 
composure,  the  discovery  did  not  affect  her.  She 
still  swung  back  and  forth  in  her  rocking-chair,  as 
nonchalantly  as  the  thrush  swayed  on  the  vibrating 
bough. 

"  Letishy,"  he  said  at  last,  "  I  wisht  ye  wouldn't 
'bide  hyar." 

Her  eyes  widened.  "  Perliteness  do  grow  on  ye,"  she 
exclaimed.  "  Whar  air  ye  'lowin'  I  lied  better  'bide  ?" 


268        IN    THE 

The  opportunity  was  not  propitious.  Nevertheless 
he  seized  it.  "  I  wish  ye'd  marry  me  an'  'bide  up  on 
the  mounting  at  my  house,"  he  said,  breathlessly. 

The  color  flared  in  her  face,  but  she  still  rocked  to 
and  fro,  and  with  her  casual  indolent  gesture  hackled 
the  flax.  "  Mus'  be  so  pleasant  'long  o'  Mis'  Guth- 
rie,"  she  said. 

She  had  adopted  as  response  the  first  suggestion 
that  came,  only  to  escape  from  the  confusion  that  be 
set  her  ;  but  as  a  painful  flush  dyed  his  face,  she 
rocked  a  trifle  less  buoyantly  back  and  forth,  and 
looked  keenly  though  covertly  at  him,  when  he  re 
joined,  quietly  : 

"  I  be  powerful  mistaken  in  you-uns  ef  ye  would 
gredge  a  shelter  ter  a  'oman  ez  be  old,  an'  frien'less, 
an'  pore,  an'  not  kind,  an'  hev  earned  nuthin'  but  hate 
in  a  long  life — ye,  young,  an'  pritty,  an'  good,  an'  re 
spected  by  all !" 

She  paused  in  her  rocking.  She  looked  steadily, 
motionlessly  at  him.  "  Would  ye  turn  her  out  ef  I 
did  '?"  she  asked,  in  a  tone  of  stipulation. 

He  hesitated;  then,  "  Naw,  by  God,  I  wouldn't!" 
he  declared. 

There  was  a  momentary  silence.  A  smile  crept  to 
the  delicate  curves  of  her  lips  and  vivified  with  its 
light  the  sapphire  of  her  eyes.  "  Fee  Guthrie,"  she 
exclaimed,  "  I  never  looked  ter  have  cause  ter  think 
so  well  o'  ye !" 

He  gazed  at  her  a  trifle  bewildered.  "  An'  ye  will 
marry  me  ?  Litt,  ye  know  how  much  I  think  o'  ye  ; 
'pears  like  I  can't  tell  how  much  I  love  ye." 

She  had  thrown  herself  into  her  former  nonchalant 
attitude,  and  was  swaying  back  and  forth  in  the 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      2C9 

rocking-chair,  and  gayly  hackling  the  flax.  She  shook 
her  head,  smiling  at  him. 

In  his  heartache,  the  pang  of  disappointment,  the 
demolition  of  all  his  cherished  hopes — and  how  strong 
they  had  been,  albeit  he  had  accounted  them  slight, 
had  named  them  despair  !  with  what  throes  they  died ! 
— he  felt  as  some  drowning  wretch  that  sees  a  swift, 
unheeding  bark  sail  past  his  agony. 

"  Account  of  her?"  he  gasped. 

Once  more  she  smilingly  shook  her  head. 

"  Some  other  man  ?"  his  face  had  grown  sterner  ; 
its  hard  lines  were  reasserted. 

The  telltale  color  flared  in  her  cheeks  ;  he  saw 
again,  rising  with  the  thought  of  that  "  other  man," 
the  look  in  her  eyes  which  made  them  trebly  beau 
tiful.  It  was  in  vain  that  she  shook  her  head,  and 
carelessly  flaunted  the  flax  as  she  swayed  back  and 
forth. 

His  eyes  were  full  of  fire ;  his  breath  was  quick ; 
the  fever  of  angry  hate  was  in  his  pulses.  "  'Twon't 
be  the  fust  time  ye  hev  throwed  me  over  fur  Rhodes," 
he  said  between  his  teeth,  the  instinct  to  identify  his 
rival  strong  within  him. 

She  laughed  aloud  with  such  ready  scorn  that  cre 
dulity  failed  him. 

"  Then  who  kin  it  be  ?"  he  demanded,  expectantly. 

She  paused  once  more,  gravity  on  her  face,  the 
shining  fibrous  flax  motionless  in  her  hand.  "  I'll 
tell  ye — I'll  tell  ye,  ef  ye  promise  never  ter  tell." 

He  was  dumfounded  for  an  instant.  Surely  a  lover 
never  received  a  confidence  like  this ! 

"  I  dun'no'  ez  I  want  ter  know  till  I  be  obligated 
ter  find  out,"  he  said,  gruffly. 


270       IN    THE 

"  What  did  ye  ax  fur,  then  ?"  she  retorted. 

In  his  state  of  feeling  he  had  scant  regard  for 
logic.  It  was  only  for  the  space  of  a  moment  that 
he  sat  silent,  then  asked,  "  Who,  then,  Litt — who  is 
the  man  ?" 

She  looked  down  upon  him  with  a  sort  of  solem 
nity  that  induced  a  forlornly  eager,  palpitating  ex 
pectancy,  as  he  looked  up  wincing  and  waiting  to 
hear. 

"Baker  Anderson!"  She  pronounced  the  words 
soberly.  Then,  with  a  peal  of  laughter,  she  flung 
herself  back  in  the  rocking-chair,  swinging  backward 
with  a  precipitancy  that  startled  the  idle  thrush,  still 
preening  his  morning  wing  on  the  honeysuckle  vine, 
and  sent  him  flashing  through  the  sunshine  like  a 
silver  arrow  to  the  woods. 

Guthrie  stared  stolidly  at  her  for  a  time,  hardly 
knowing  his  mind  between  anger  and  surprise.  Then 
his  stern  features  gradually  relaxed.  There  was  some 
thing  in  her  merry  subterfuge  that  savored  of  coquet 
ry.  The  terrible  vitality  of  his  starveling  hope  roused 
itself  upon  the  intimation.  His  long  sigh  was  a 
breath  of  relief.  Perhaps  he  should  not  have  expected 
a  direct  response  in  his  favor.  "  Wiramin  'pear  ter 
set  store  on  all  sort'n  roundabout  ways  ;  I  reckon  I'll 
hev  ter  try  a  haffen  dozen."  This  was  his  unspoken 
deduction.  He  only  said,  cumbrously  seeking  to 
adopt  her  lightsome  vein,  "  I  be  powerful  'flicted  ter 
hear  it  be  Baker  ez  air  the  favored  ch'ice.  I  dun'no' 
how  I'll  ever  make  out  ter  stan'  up  agin  Baker." 

And  he  slowly  laughed  again.  He  could  hardly 
have  expressed  how  much  the  incongruity  of  the 
idea  comforted  him.  He  was  looking  about  with  the 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     271 

relief  that  ensues  upon  a  grave  and  poignant  crisis 
happily  overpast.  lie  saw,  with  a  sort  of  indiscrim- 
inating  satisfaction,  the  dew  so  coolly  glittering  on 
the  long  grass  ;  in  the  deep  green  shadow  of  the 
trees  the  white  elder  blossoms  gleamed.  The  wind 
came  straight  from  the  mountains,  so  full  of  strength 
and  freshness  and  perfume,  it  seemed  like  the  very 
breath  of  life.  So  often  a  wing  cleft  the  blue  sky, 
and  all  the  nestlings  were  abroad  !  He  noted  a  dozen 
yards  down  a  dank  path  a  stubby,  ruffled  scion  of 
a  mocking-bird,  standing  in  infantine  disaffection  to 
the  prospect  of  locomotion,  and  watching  with  un 
ambitious  eyes  the  graceful  example  of  the  paternal 
flight,  as  the  parent  aeronaut  darted  across  short  dis 
tances  from  honeysuckle  to  glowing  cabbage-rose, 
and  called  forth  encouragement  in  clearest  clarion 
tones,  and  sought  to  stimulate  emulation — fated,  like 
some  disappointed  worldly  fathers,  to  hear  only  a 
whining  vibrant  declination  of  the  mere  attempt  at 
progression  from  the  sulky  brat  in  the  path.  Guth- 
ric,  his  mind  once  more  receptive  to  details,  observed 
for  the  first  time  that  the  little  party  on  the  porch 
had  been  joined  by  the  old  dog,  who  so  valued  the 
society  of  Moses,  and  who  sat  beside  him  as  the  in 
fant  capably  went  through  all  the  motions  of  hack 
ling  flax  ;  the  canine  friend  followed  with  alert  turns 
of  the  head  and  puzzled  knitted  brow  the  wavings  of 
the  short  fat  arm,  and  kept  time  the  while  with  an 
approving  wagging  tail.  , 

"  Thinks  mo'  of  him  now  than  Steve  do,"  Guthrie 
reflected,  for  the  very  sight  of  Moses's  bald  head  was 
path^ic  in  his  eyes.  Then  his  mind  reverted  to  his 
owqpanxicty  because  of  Letitia.  "  Litt,"  he  said,  and 


272       IN    THE 

there  was  a  sort  of  peremptory  proprietary  vibration 
in  the  tone,  "  I  don't  want  ye  ter  'bide  hyar  no  longer. 
I  want  ye  ter  go  home." 

She  paused,  the  flax  motionless  in  her  hand.  A 
resolute  light  was  in  her  eyes.  She  gave  a  decisive 
nod.  "  Mis'  Yates  ain't  a-goin'  ter  shoot  off  that 
rifle  at  nobody  agin,"  she  said,  unexpectedly.  "  / 
be  goin'  ter  company  that  rifle  closer'n  a  brother." 

For  a  moment  Guthrie  was  a  trifle  bewildered — the 
story  of  the  mysterious  shots  fired  at  the  party  in  the 
pygmy  burial-ground,  the  slain  colt,  Mrs.  Yates's  fu 
tile  denials,  all  detailed  by  Ephraim,  had  been  super 
seded  in  interest  by  his  own  adventures  and  the  theo 
ries  that  he  had  deduced  from  them.  "  Waal,"  he 
said  at  last — formally  taking  her  standpoint  into  ac 
count — u  that  ain't  nuthin'  ter  you-uns  ;  ye  can't  guide 
Mis'  Yates's  actions.  It  jcs'  shows  another  reason 
why  ye  oughter  be  at  home.  Mis'  Yates  s'prises 
me  ;  she  ain't  the  'oman  I  took  her  fur ;  but  ef  she 
kills  Mr.  Shattuck  fur  her  foolish  notions  'bout  open 
ing  the  graves  o'  the  Leetle  People,  she'll  hev  ter  an 
swer  ter  the  law.  'Tain't  nuthin'  ter  you-uns" 

He  was  not  looking  at  her ;  he  had  plucked  a  blade 
of  the  sweet-flag  that  grew  by  the  step,  casually  tear 
ing  its  delicate  stripes  of  white  and  green,  all  unnot- 
ing  that  her  face  had  turned  a  pallid,  grayish  hue ; 
that  she  sat  as  still  as  if  petrified,  her  eyes  dilated, 
and  fixed  with  a  sort  of  fascinated  terror  upon  some 
frightful  mental  picture. 

"  Mis'  Yates  s'prises  me,"  Guthrie  resumed.  "  Eph 
says  she  'lows  ez  her  husband  lef '  her  'kase  she  swore 
she  would  fire  that  very  rifle  at  Shattuck  ef  he 
opened  a  '  pygmy  '  grave,  cz  he  calls  it.  I'll  be  bound, 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         273 

though,  Steve  didn't  leave  fur  sech  ez  that.  I  ain't 
got  nuthin'  agin  the  Leetle  People,"  he  stipulated, 
with  a  quick  after-thought.  "I  know  no  harm  of 
'em,  an'  I  respec'  'em,  though  dead  an'  leetle.  I 
wouldn't  'low  nobody  ter  kerry  thar  bones  off'n  my 
Ian,'  not  even  Mr.  Shattuck,  though  I'd  do  mo'  fur 
him  'n  ennybody  else — he  hev  got  sech  a  takin'  way 
with  him !  I  tole  him  he  mought  hev  one  o'  thar 
pitchers  ez  air  buried  with  'em,  an'  I'd  gin  the  leetle 
pusson  one  o'  my  pitchers  out'n  the  house.  I  reckon 
'twould  be  ez  good  ez  his'n."  He  paused,  meditat 
ing  on  the  ethics  of  this  exchange.  "  But  I  war  glad 
when  Shattuck  'lowed  he  hankered  fur  no  pitcher, 
but  jes'  wanted  ter  take  a  look  at  thar  jugs  an'  orna- 
mints  an'  sech,  fur  the  knowledge  o'  the  hisfry  o'  the 
kentry"  He  repeated  these  last  words  with  a  sort 
of  solid  insistent  emphasis,  as  charged  with  impres- 
siveness  and  importance,  for  the  whole  enterprise 
was  repugnant  to  him,  and  he  sought  to  justify  it 
to  himself  by  urging  its  utility,  a  magnified  idea  of 
which  he  had  gleaned  from  Shattuck's  talk.  He  had 
torn  the  blade  of  sweet-flag  into  shreds,  and  now  he 
cast  the  fragments  from  him.  "  But  it  jes'  shows  ez 
Mis'  Yates  ain't  a  fit  'oman  fur  ye  ter  be  with,  firin' 
rifles  an'  sech,  an'  knowin'  the  hiding-place  o'  evil 
doers,  purtendin'  all  the  time  ter  be  so  desolated  an' 
deserted.  Litt,  air  it  jes'  lately  ye  knowed  whar 
Steve  war,  or  did  ye  know  it  'fore  ye  kem  hyar  ter 
keep  her  comp'ny  ?"  Then,  as  she  sat  stonily  gazing 
at  him,  he  added,  "  Did  ye  know  it  them  evenin's  ez 
I  kem  a-visitin'  down  hyar  ?" 

She  spoke  slowly,  with  a  measureless  wonderment 
on    her   face.     "  Air   ye    bereft,    Felix  Guthrie  ?     I 
18 


274        IN    THE 

dun'no'  whar  Steve  Yates  air,  an'  Adelaide  don't 
nuther." 

It  was  hard  to  shake  his  confidence  in  her.  Per 
haps  no  words  might  have  served — least  of  all  any 
that  Cheever  could  speak — save  those  accompanied 
by  the  savage,  deep  strokes  of  a  bowie-knife  aiming 
for  his  heart.  The  frank  sincerities  of  the  steel  were 
coercive  ;  it  had  been  thus  that  her  name  had  been 
cut  into  his  very  flesh,  a  slash  for  each  syllable. 
They  all  ached  in  unison  with  the  recollection. 

"  Ye  air  foolin'  me,"  he  said,  reproachfully.  But 
even  then  he  sought  to  adduce  a  worthy  motive.  "  Ye 
air  doin'  it  fur  the  sake  o'  yer  frien's,  Litt.  But  ye 
can't  mend  thar  mean,  preverted  natur'.  Ye  oughter 
go  home  ;  home  is  the  place  fur  gals." 

To  an  overbearing  man,  unfurnished  with  the  au 
thority  of  kindred,  and  restrained  by  even  primitive 
etiquette  from  aught  more  coercive  than  advice,  there 
was  something  painfully  baffling  in  the  headstrong 
impunity  with  which  she  cried,  gayly,  as  she  set  her 
chair  to  rocking  once  more,  "  The  angel  Gabriel  with 
his  trumpet  mought  wake  the  dead  an'  'tice  'em  from 
the  grave,  but  he  couldn't  say  nuthin'  ez  would  sum 
mons  me  from  this  spot." 

So  small,  so  feminine,  and  yet  so  easily  and  amply 
victorious  ! — it  was  hardly  in  his  imperative  nature 
to  submit  gracefully  to  so  inconsiderable  an  adver 
sary.  "  An'  thar's  daddy  Pettingill,"  he  cried,  an 
grily,  "  a-quar'lin'  'kase  his  craps  hev  got  too  much 
rain,  or  too  leetle,  an'  stare-gazin'  the  clouds,  so 
sulky  an'  impident,  I  wonder  the  lightnin1  don't  strike 
him  fur  his  sass.  An'  thar's  mammy  Pettingill  makin' 
quince  preserves,  an'  callin'  all  the  created  worl' 


275 

ter  see  how  cl'ar  they  be.  An'  thar's  that  fool,  Josh 
Pettingill,  rails'  take  this  junctry  tor  marry  Malviny 
Gossam,  an'  go  off  ter  live,  an'  leave  nobody  ter  take 
keer  of  his  own  sister.  An'  ye  air  lef  hyar  ter  'com 
pany  a  'oman  ez  fires  off  rifles  at  peaceful  passers,  an' 
ter  know  the  secrets  o'  whar  Steve  Yates  an'  Buck 
Cheever  be  hid  out.  Ef  ye  war  my  darter  " — severely 
paternal — "  I  would  put  ye  right  now  up  on  that  horse 
ahint  o'  me,  an'  ride  off  home  with  ye ;  an'  darned  ef 
I  hain't  got  a  good  mind  ter  tote  ye  back  ter  them 
absent-minded  Pettingills  ennyhow  !" 

There  was  no  absolute  intention  in  his  words,  but 
he  had  risen  as  he  spoke,  and  she  cowered  a  little ; 
there  was  something  in  his  proportions  that  con 
strained  respect,  and  her  spirit  of  defiance  was  abated 
somewhat. 

"  Fee,"  she  said,  seeking  to  effect  a  diversion, 
"  what  makes  ye  'low  ez  Adelaide  an'  me  know  whar 
Steve  Yates  be  hid  out  ?" 

"  'Kase  yestiddy  whenst  I  run  agin  a  gang  o'  fel 
lers,  hid  out — I  reckon  they  air  arter  some  mischief 
— an'  Steve  war  'mongst  'em,  Buck  Cheever  'lowed 
ez  'twar  you-uns  ez  told  me.  They  air  workin'  agin 
the  law,  I  know" 

She  did  not  at  once  remember  the  hasty  chance 
shot — the  keen  divination — in  the  mock  message  she 
had  sent  to  Steve  Yates  by  Cheever  ;  but  the  expres 
sion  on  the  horse-thief's  face  came  back  to  her  pres 
ently,  as  if  it  had  been  held  indissolubly  in  her  mind 
for  future  recall.  Evidently  Cheever  had  believed 
that  in  some  incomprehensible  way  she  had  possessed 
herself  of  the  knowledge,  and  spoke  from  its  ful 
ness. 


276      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

She  sat  still,  absently  gazing  at  the  flax.  "  An'  ye 
'lowed  I  knowed  sech  ez  that,  an'  be  in  league  with 
folks  ez  work  agin  the  law — tliievin'  or  sech — an'  yit 
ye  kem  down  hyar  an'  ax  me  ter  marry  ye  ?" 

"  'Kase  I  be  dead  sure,  Litt,  ez  ye  wouldn't  do  no 
harm  knoivin1  it"  he  replied,  precipitately.  "  I  wish 
I  hed  faith  in  Heaven  like  I  hev  in  yoti-uns.  I  war 
jes'  feared  Mis'  Yates  an'  them  war  foolin'  ye  'bout'n 
it,  an'  hed  tangled  ye  up  in  suthin'  ez  ye  didn't  on- 
derstand  the  rights  of."  He  looked  down  eagerly  at 
her,  but  her  face  was  inscrutable. 

"  I  ain't  so  easily  fooled,"  she  observed,  succinctly. 

He  glanced  about  him,  evidently  on  the  eve  of  re 
luctant  departure,  but  still  lingering.  The  infantile 
mocking-bird  at  intervals  piped  his  strident  vibrant 
"C-a-a-ant !  c-a-a-ant !  c-a-a-ant !"  The  parent  bird's 
keen,  clear  call  rang  out,  so  full  of  meaning  that  it 
seemed  strange  that  it  should  be  inarticulate,  and 
ever  and  anon  his  white  wing  feathers,  as  he  whirled 
in  the  air,  shone  dazzlingly  in  the  sunshine.  Moses 
continued  to  experiment  with  the  possibilities  of  flax 
for  food,  sometimes  constrained  to  sputter  by  his 
misdirected  ardor.  Guthrie  would  fain  prolong  the 
pleasant  peaceful  time. 

"  I  mus'  be  a-joggin',"  he  said,  however.  "  I  feel 
powerful  foolish  ridin'  another  man's  horse.  An'  I 
be  a-goin'  ter  turn  him  over  ter  the  constable  o'  the 
deestric',  an'  tell  how  I  got  him  by  accident,  so  flus 
tered  by  the  fight." 

For  the  first  time  she  recognized  Cheever's  horse 
at  the  gate. 

"  War  thar  a  fight  ?"  she  said. 

He  nodded. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      277 

11  Ye  didn't  take  a  hand  in  it?  Waal,  I  be  s'prised 
— ye,  ez  hev  sot  out  ter  be  a  saint  o'  the  Lord !" 

"  That  don't  make  no  diff  unce,"  he  said,  hastily 
defending  his  piety.  "  The  reason  thar  ain't  no  mo' 
fightin'  'mongst  the  saints  an'  disciples  the  Bible  tells 
about  air  'kase  thar  warn't  no  fire-arms  in  them  days ; 
I  hev  hearn  pa'son  say  thar  warn't  none.  An'  that's 
why  peace  war  so  preached  up  then,  fur  mighty  few 
men  like  ter  kem  ter  close  quarters  with  a  knife." 

His  own  wounds  ached  anew  with  the  suggestion, 
but  with  a  savage  pride  in  his  prowess  he  said  naught 
of  them  ;  he  would  not  have  admitted  their  existence 
to  the  man  who  had  dealt  them ;  Cheever  might  take 
only  what  testimony  he  could  from  the  blood  on  his 
knife. 

She  was  looking  at  him  with  that  admiration,  so 
essentially  feminine,  of  his  valor,  his  ready  hand,  his 
fierce  spirit.  "  So  ye  j'ined  in  2"  she  said,  smiling. 

"  Ef  firm'  a  dozen  pistol-shots  be  j'inin'  in,"  he 
replied,  his  eye  alight  at  the  recollection. 

She  changed  color.  "  War  ennybody  hurt  ?"  she 
quavered. 

"  Listen  at  the  female  'oman  !"  he  exclaimed,  in 
exasperation,  because  of  the  contradictions  of  senti 
ment  she  presented.  "  Fairly  dotes  on  the  idee  o' 
other  folks  a-fightin,'  an'  yit  can't  abide  the  notion 
o'  nobody  gittin'  hurt !  The  Guthrics  hev  the  name 
o'  shootin'  straight,  Litt  Pettingill,  an'  I'd  be  power 
ful  'shamed  ef  in  twelve  shots  I  done  no  damage. 
'Tain't  been  my  policy  nor  my  practice  ter  waste  lead 
an'  powder." 

He  stood  leaning  against  the  post,  vainly  specu 
lating  concerning  the  probable  execution  of  his  re- 


278    IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY. 

volvers  when  he  had  escaped,  firing  them  with  both 
hands.  It  was  for  a  moment  with  absent,  unseeing 
eyes  that  he  mechanically  regarded  her,  but  the  image 
that  had  so  great  a  fascination  for  him  presently 
broke  through  the  absorptions  of  his  retrospect,  and 
asserted  itself  anew — so  dainty,  so  blithe,  so  bird- 
like,  so  lightly  swaying  as  she  sat  in  the  rocking- 
chair. 

Her  association  with  these  incongruous  elements  of 
suspected  fraud,  and  ill-favored  deeds,  and  unfitting 
companions  seemed  a  profanity,  and  his  eager  wish 
to  have  her  removed  far  from  them,  shielded,  inac 
cessible,  was  renewed. 

"  Mr.  Shattuck  hain't  got  no  need  o'  you-uns,  Litt, 
ter  pertect  him,"  he  urged,  suddenly.  "  He'd  laff  at 
the  idee,  ef  he  warn't  ashamed  of  it ;  ennybody  o' 
yer  size  an'  sex  a-settin'  out  ter  pertect  a  able-bodied 
man  from  rifle-balls." 

He  looked  down  at  her  with  a  laugh  of  ridicule 
and  a  sneering  eye,  calculated  to  put  out  of  counte 
nance  her  valorous  intention. 

She  said  nothing ;  but  determination,  immobility, 
could  hardly  have  had  more  adequate  expression  than 
in  her  face,  her  soft  and  delicate  lips  closed  fast,  her 
eyes  bright  and  fearless. 

"  But  shucks !" — he  sought  to  make  light  of  it — 
"  Shattuck  ain't  a-goin'  ter  kem  agin  ter  the  Leetlc 
People's  buryin'-groun' — leastwise  not  when  Mis' 
Yates  be  out  an'  stirrin'."  A  dim  prospect  of  or 
ganizing  a  nocturnal  expedition  for  Shattuck's  assist 
ance  was  shaping  itself  in  his  mind.  "  She  can't  be 
on  watch  night  and  day." 

Letitia  looked  up,  her  interest  in  all  that  interested 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES"  COUNTRY.      279 

Shattuck  shining  in  her  eyes.  "  That's  the  very  word 
what  /  told  him,"  she  said.  "  He'd  better  kem  an' 
dig  at  night,  whenst  the  moon  shines,  like  he  done 
afore." 

A  sudden  angry  pain  thrilled  through  Guthrie.  It 
was  only  yesterday  that  Shattuck  had  received  his 
permission  to  make  these  investigations  upon  his 
land ;  had  sought  it  with  deepening  deference  and 
solicitude,  as  if  it  were  essential.  And  when  at  last 
it  had  been  granted,  it  was  in  disregard  of  previous 
refusals,  in  despite  of  his  repugnance,  and  his  primi 
tive  sense  of  sacrilege.  Thus  he  had  been  overborne 
by  the  facile  influence  of  this  suave  stranger,  with 
his  ready  smile  and  his  pleasant  eyes,  and  his  frank 
off-hand  speech.  It  must  have  been  that  to  work 
freely  and  openly  in  broad  daylight  had  become  a 
necessary  condition  of  Shattuck's  success,  for  evi 
dently  he  had  been  here  before — when  the  moon 
shone  ! 

Whether  it  were  because  of  some  inward  moni 
tion,  which  by  an  unconscious  process  served  Guth- 
rie's  interest,  or  some  latent,  undeveloped  suspicion 
astir  in  his  mind,  he  gave  no  intimation  of  his 
thought;  he  held  himself  plastic  to  the  discovery 
which  he  felt  imminent  in  the  air.  He  could  not, 
however,  meet  her  eyes ;  as  he  sought  an  alternative, 
perhaps  it  was  as  happy  an  idea  as  any  that  could 
have  come  at  a  more  propitious  and  reflective  mo 
ment  to  draw  out  one  of  the  pistols  that  he  wore  in 
his  belt  and  turn  it  in  his  hand  ;  he  had  an  incidental 
preoccupied  air  as  he  glanced  successively  into  the 
empty  chambers. 

"  Did  he  find  ennything  then,  d'ye  know,  Litt  ?" 


280        IN    THE 

"  I  dun'no'.  I  ain't  seen  him  sence  till  las'  night," 
she  replied,  unsuspiciously. 

He  had  snapped  the  barrel  in  place  and  silently 
sighted  the  pistol  at  a  flying  bird,  as  if  he  had  in 
view  some  experiment  of  marksmanship.  Moses  had 
ceased  his  femininely  domestic  labors,  with  the  wisp 
of  flax  hanging  motionless  in  his  limp  hand.  Here 
was  matter  more  to  his  mind,  attesting  his  inherent 
masculine  taste  ;  he  winked  very  hard  at  every  sharp 
clash  of  the  steel,  but  bent  forward  with  wide  up 
lifted  eyes,  a  tremulous,  absorbed,  open  mouth,  and 
watched  the  big  man's  attitude  as  he  held  up  the 
weapon  to  a  line  with  his  eye,  his  whole  massive  fig 
ure,  from  the  great  slouch  hat  to  his  jingling  spurs, 
clearly  imposed  upon  the  fair  morning  sky. 

A  pointer,  who  had  been  asleep  under  the  house, 
had  rushed  out  upon  recognizing  the  click  of  the 
cocking  of  a  weapon,  and  stood  in  tremulous,  wheez 
ing  agitation,  now  scanning  the  prospect  for  the 
threatened  game  and  eagerly  snuffing  the  air,  now 
glancing  up,  surprised  at  the  abnormal  inactivity  of 
this  presentment  of  the  genus  sportsman. 

"  What  makes  ye  'low  'twar  Shattuck,  Litt  ?" 
Guthrie  observed  in  the  tone  of  a  casual  gossip. 

There  was  a  touch  of  rose  in  her  cheek.  "  Waal, 
I  warn't  sartain  a-fust.  I  'lowed  it  couldn't  be.  Till 
toler'ble  late,  arter  the  moon  hed  riz,  I  hearn  a  pick 
axe  strikin'  on  rock  up  in  the  pygmy  buryin'-ground  " 
(he  noticed  that  she  had  discarded  the  colloquial 
"  Leetle  People  "  for  Shattuck's  more  scientific  term), 
"  an'  then  I  knowed  it  couldn't  be  nobody  but  him. 
I  didn't  say  nothin'  'bout'n  it  afore,  'kase  I  didn't 
know  till  las'  night  ez  he  hed  got  yer  say-so  ez  he 


'HK    HAD    .SNAPPED    TIIK    HAKKKL    IN    PLACK. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      281 

mought  dig  on  yer  land."  She  looked  up  with  an 
unsuspicious  smile ;  then,  with  the  glow  of  mirth  in 
her  eyes,  she  burst  suddenly  into  a  peal  of  laughter. 
"  Baker  Anderson  would  hev  it  ez  'twar  you-uns  ez 
'peared  suddint  at  the  wander  whilst  I  war  a-singin' 
a  song.  I  wisht  ye  could  hev  seen  Baker  offerin'  ter 
take  down  his  rifle  an'  go  arter  ye  fur  hevin'  gin  me 
an'  Mis'  Yates  sech  a  skeer.  Ye  could  run  Baker 
with  yer  ramrod  !  Baker  'lows  yit  ez  'twar  you-uns. 
We-uns  couldn't  make  out  the  man's  face  clear  ;  jes' 
seen  it  fur  a  minit  ez  he  looked  through  the  winder. 
But  ez  soon  ez  I  hearn  that  pick  strike  on  the  rock, 
I  guessed  mighty  easy  who  hed  been  hangin'  roun' 
the  porch  listenin'  ter  the  singin',  waitin'  fur  the 
moon  ter  rise." 

A  miracle  could  not  have  more  stringently  coerced 
his  credulity  ;  and,  in  truth,  the  circumstances  wore 
all  the  sleek  probability  of  fact.  No  man  familiar 
ized  by  song  and  story  since  the  Middle  Ages  with 
the  idea  of  the  cavalier  lingering  without  the  castle 
walls  to  hear  a  lady's  lute  could  have  more  definitely 
grasped  its  significance  than  did  this  primitive  lover. 
It  lent  a  strong  coherence  to  every  word  that  Shat- 
tuck  had  uttered  ;  the  praises  of  her  beauty,  to  which 
he  had  hearkened  with  such  simple  joy  ;  of  her  mind, 
of  her  unique  grace,  so  at  variance  with  the  uncouth 
conditions  of  her  life.  And  what  new  light  was 
thrown  upon  her  strangely  retentive  memory  hoard 
ing  Shattuck's  words  ;  her  eager  determined  vigilance 
in  his  behalf,  from  which  the  trump  that  might  sum 
mon  the  dead  from  their  graves  would  be  futile  to 
lure  her  ;  that  radiant  freshened  beauty  in  her  sap 
phire  eyes  !  "  Religion  itself  couldn't  make  her  look 


282      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES 

more  like  an  angel  in  the  eyes  !"  Guthrie  had  said  to 
himself,  with  a  lover's  alert  and  receptive  recogni 
tion  of  an  embellished  loveliness.  And  Shattuck  had 
come,  in  good  sooth,  to  listen  and  linger  without  to 
hear  her  sing  while  he  waited  for  the  moon  to  rise. 

He  remembered,  with  an  angry  quickening  of  his 
pulse,  his  own  simple-minded  confidences  to  Shat 
tuck  yesterday  in  the  barley  fields.  What !  in  his 
unsuspicious  folly  he  had  even  told  the  man  how  she 
talked  of  him,  how  she  treasured  his  words,  how  she 
valued  his  great  learning,  for  thus  she  was  mind 
ed  to  regard  those  acquisitions  which  the  more 
staid  and  experienced  people  of  the  country-side 
esteemed  crack-brained  fantasies.  And  somehow 
this  reflection  operated  as  a  check  upon  the  bound 
ing  fury  that  possessed  him ;  it  held  an  element  of 
self-reproach.  He  had  unwittingly  revealed  to  this 
stranger  the  sentiment  which  Letitia  would  have 
guarded  as  a  sacred  secret — if,  indeed,  she  herself 
were  aware  of  it.  His  face  was  set  and  hard ;  but 
the  strong  hand  trembled  that  held  the  pistol,  silent 
and  empty  and  harmless  enough  now,  albeit  so  re 
cently  flinging  out  its  fate-freighted  balls  and  its 
wild  barbaric  shriek. 

"  She  never  war  gin  ter  *  settin'  caps '  arter  folks, 
like  other  gals ;  she  sorter  sets  store  on  herse'f  'kase 
the  common  run  o'  boys  didn't  like  her.  She  feels 
too  ch'ice  fur  enny  or'nary  cuss ;  an'  I  reckon  she'd 
be  hoppin'  mad — "  And  then  he  paused  with  the 
conviction  that  she  did  not  esteem  Shattuck  an 
"  or'nary  cuss."  This  revelation  would  probably 
only  result  in  facilitating  an  understanding  between 
them.  "  Ef  he  ever  sees  her  agin,"  he  said,  between 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES      COUNTRY.      283 

his  set  teeth.  There  recurred  to  him  suddenly  his 
words  yesterday,  amongst  the  waving  barley — that 
he  had  it  in  his  heart  to  kill  any  man  who  came  be 
tween  him  and  Letitia.  He  had  spoken  them  with 
other  intentions,  with  the  thought  of  Rhodes  in  his 
mind ;  but  Shattuck  was  warned,  already  warned. 
And  if  he  had  spoken  too  freely,  it  was  at  least  not 
equivocally.  "  Ef  ever  he  sees  her  agin,"  he  once 
more  muttered. 

"  What  air  you-uns  sayin'  ?"  she  demanded,  sud 
denly,  all  unsuspicious  of  his  train  of  thought. 
"  Mose  kin  converse  ez  well  ez  that.  The  only 
trouble  with  Mose's  talk  is  that  grown  folks  air  too 
foolish  ter  onderstan'  it.  Ain't  it,  Mose  ?" 

But  the  child  gave  her  no  heed,  still  fixing  his  up 
turned  gaze  on  the  pistol  in  Guthrie's  hand,  as  eager 
of  expression  as  the  uplifted  muzzle  of  the  dog,  who 
writhed  and  wagged  his  tail,  and  wheezed  about  the 
great  boots. 

Guthrie  looked  down  at  Letitia,  his  eyes  changed 
and  strange,  and  little  to  be  understood.  She  paused 
as  her  own  encountered  them,  holding  the  wisp  of 
flax  motionless  in  her  hand,  vaguely  and  superficially 
aware  that  a  crisis  had  supervened,  albeit  beyond  her 
ken. 

"  I  mus'  be  a-goin',"  he  said,  absently,  still  looking 
at  her,  his  eyes  freighted  with  his  unread  thoughts. 

Their  dull  solemnity  grated  upon  her  mood,  so  far 
afield  was  it  from  any  standpoint  yet  revealed  in  his 
words.  She  resented  his  motionless,  intent,  ponder 
ing  survey. 

She  sought  to  shake  off  the  responsive  gravity  his 
mien  induced.  "  Goin' !"  she  cried,  her  eyes  grow- 


284 

ing  brighter  and  deeper  and  darker  as  they  dilated. 
"  Waal,  we'll  hev  ter  try  ter  spare  ye.  Waal !  waal !" 
with  an  affected  sigh. 

The  familiar  note  of  irony  seemed  to  rouse  him  to 
more  immediate  intention.  He  thrust  his  pistol  in 
his  belt,  and  with  a  nod  turned  away  down  the 
path. 

Moses,  who  could  never  be  prevailed  upon  to  greet 
a  visitor,  always  took  welcome  heed  of  departure. 
To  his  mind  the  dearest  behest  of  hospitality  was 
speeding  the  parting  guest.  Without  prompting,  he 
sent  a  jubilant  cry  of  "  Bye  !  bye  !"  after  Outline's 
retreating  form,  and  beamed  upon  him  with  a  damp 
and  gummy  sputtering  smile,  graced  by  all  his  glit 
tering  teeth. 

Letitia,  too,  gazed  after  the  guest,  whose  manner 
had  suddenly  presented  an  enigma.  "  Looked  all  of 
a  suddint  ez  ef  he  hed  fund  suthin'  he  didn't  want, 
like  a  rattlesnake ;  or  hed  furgot  suthin'  he  couldn't 
do  without,  like  his  breakfast,  or  a  thimble,  or  his 
brains." 

He  went  slowly  and  thoughtfully  along  the  dank 
path,  over  which  the  heavy  long-tasselled  grasses 
leaned.  Pinks  bordered  it  here,  and  anon  the  jimson 
weed ;  again  it  was  enlivened  by  the  glow  of  a  great 
red  rose,  with  the  essence  of  summer  in  its  fresh 
breath,  as  it  swayed  on  a  long,  full-leaved,  thorny 
wand.  This  clutched  at  his  coat,  and  as  he  paused 
to  disengage  the  cloth,  he  looked  back  at  the  house 
— the  mountain  looming  behind  it,  with  a  horizontal 
band  of  mist  athwart  the  slope ;  the  little  roof  still 
dank  and  shining  with  dew ;  the  tiny  porch  all 
wreathed  with  vines  that  stretched  a  surplusage  of 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      285 

their  blooming  lengths  across  to  the  window ;  the 
little  glassless  square  where  the  batten  shutter 
swung.  Here  it  was,  he  thought,  that  Shattuck  had 
stood,  knee-deep  in  the  lush  thick  grass,  when  the 
shutter  was  closed,  and  colors  were  null,  and  the 
black  night  gloomed,  and  she  sang  within  while  he 
waited,  and  the  moon  rose  all  too  soon  !  He  turned 
and  looked  at  the  gorge,  as  if  he  expected  to  see 
there  the  pearly  disk  amidst  the  dark  obscurenients 
of  the  night-shadowed  mountains.  It  was  instead  a 
vista  of  many  gleaming  lights  :  the  sunshine  on  the 
river,  and  the  differing  lustre  of  the  water  in  the 
shadow  ;  the  fine  crystalline  green  of  the  cataract, 
and  the  dazzling  white  of  the  foam  and  the  spray ; 
the  luminous  azure  of  the  far-away  peaks,  and  the 
enamelled  glister  of  the  blue  sky — all  showing  be 
tween  the  gloomy,  sombre  ranges  close  at  hand.  And 
while  he  still  looked,  he  mounted  the  horse  at  the 
gate  and  rode  away. 


XIV. 

IT  was  a  fine  sensation  for  the  group  of  gossips 
that  always  seemed  an  essential  appurtenance  to  the 
blacksmith  shop  at  the  cross-roads  when,  this  bright 
morning,  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  an  infrequent  and 
unfamiliar  apparition,  rode  up  to  the  open  doors,  and 
drew  rein  under  the  branches  of  the  overhanging  oak- 
tree.  So  broadly  spreading  were  these  branches  that 
not  even  the  diminishing  shadow,  ever  waning  as  the 
day  waxed  on  to  noon,  had  bereft  the  space  beneath 
of  its  gray-green  gloom  and  its  sense  of  dew.  A 
wagon,  one  wheel  lying  tire-less  on  the  ground,  and 
a  stout  stave  lashed  crutch-like  in  its  place,  stood 
near  by  in  the  full  yellow  glare,  with  a  reduced  car 
toon  of  itself,  sadly  out  of  drawing,  on  the  sand  be 
neath  it,  supplemented  by  a  caricature  of  two  men 
who  sat  upon  its  pole.  The  interior  of  the  shop 
looked  dark  and  cool,  and  the  blacksmith's  father, 
bareheaded  and  in  his  shirt-sleeves  in  a  rickety  chair 
by  the  door,  caught  the  softening  effect  of  its  twi 
light  in  his  aged  and  minutely  wrinkled  face.  Two 
or  three  dim  figures  were  indistinct  within  ;  upon  a 
bench  outside  a  couple  of  loafers  smoked,  while  still 
another  utilized  as  a  seat  the  roots  of  the  tree.  The 
shadow  of  its  foliage  played  on  the  clapboards  of  the 
roof,  long  ago  broken  here  and  there,  and  still  un- 
mended,  for  the  rain  and  the  snow  were  welcome  to 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      287 

wreak  their  worst,  drizzling  through  upon  the  repub 
lican  simplicity  of  the  "  dirt  floor  "  within.  Hardly 
a  curl  of  smoke  ascended  from  the  chimney,  and  as 
the  officer  cast  his  eye  along  the  two  red  clay  wind 
ing  roads,  both  of  a  most  irresponsible  and  vagrant- 
like  aspect,  as  if  they  had  no  goal  in  expectation, 
there  was  no  other  sign  of  habitation  in  sight ;  the 
woods  closed  in,  limiting  the  prospect ;  here  and 
there  mountains  rose,  seeming,  as  always,  nearer 
than  reality  warrants  ;  and  it  was  a  most  sequestered, 
slumberous  spot  to  which  the  sheriff  had  betaken  his 
brisk  individuality  and  the  energetic  potentiality  of 
his  official  presence. 

So  welcome  a  break  in  the  monotony  had  not  oc 
curred  for  many  a  day.  A  sentiment  of  gratitude 
merely  for  his  company  pervaded  the  by-standers. 
They  looked  for  no  developments  more  striking  than 
the  detail  of  the  ordinary  news  from  the  town,  some 
good-natured  raillery  back  and  forth,  and  the  inti 
mation  of  his  errand,  which  perchance  might  touch 
the  summoning  of  jurors  or  witnesses  in  some  of 
the  more  remote  districts  of  his  bailiwick ;  and  each 
idler  was  devoutly  glad  that  the  allurements  of 
plough  and  harrow  and  hoe  had  not  availed  to  keep 
him  at  work  and  at  home  on  this  momentous  occa 
sion,  which  might  not  be  duplicated  for  months. 
But  when  the  officer's  hard  face  and  unsmiling  eyes 
betokened  the  more  serious  import  of  his  visit,  there 
ran  through  the  assembly  a  keen  thrill  of  curiosity 
and  expectancy. 

The  sheriff,  not  perhaps  all  indifferent  to  the 
flutter  his  advent  roused,  flung  the  reins  over  his 
horse's  head  and  dismounted. 


288        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  News  ?"  He  echoed  the  question  that  had  been 
coupled  with  the  salutation,  and  glanced  loweringly 
about.  "  News  enough.  Murder  /" 

He  spoke  the  word  with  a  melodramatic  unction, 
dropping  his  voice.  He  was  a  tall,  well-built  man, 
of  a  large  frame,  implying  bone  and  muscle  rather 
than  fat,  and  promising  most  stalwart  possibilities  ; 
and  if  the  somewhat  imposing  strut,  which  was  his 
favorite  method  of  locomotion,  savored  of  pride,  it 
also  invited  attention  to  the  many  reasons  which 
had  justified  him  in  indulging  that  sentiment.  He 
turned  with  the  blacksmith  to  the  eager  examination 
of  the  hoof  of  his  horse  which  had  cast  a  shoe,  and 
was  going  a  trifle  lame.  As  the  smith,  this  colloquy 
over,  set  about  repairing  the  disaster,  the  officer,  tak 
ing  off  his  hat,  lent  himself  with  an  air  of  considera 
tion  to  heed  the  clamorous  inquiries. 

"  It's  a  tough  job,  an'  I  ain't  s'prised  if  I  have  you 
all  on  a  posse  'fore  night."  He  shook  his  head  with 
serious  intimations  as  he  seated  himself  on  an  empty 
inverted  barrel  just  outside  the  door.  "  Ye,  Phineas  !" 
he  broke  off,  admonishing  the  smith,  who  had  paused 
in  paring  the  horse's  hoof,  which  he  held  between  his 
knees  upon  his  leather  apron,  his  stooping  posture 
unchanged,  his  bushy  eyebrows  lifted  as  he  looked 
up  from  under  them  in  expectant  curiosity  at  the 
officer.  "  Ye  jes'  pcrceed  with  yer  rat-killin'.  I'm 
in  a  hurry  ter  git  away  from  hyar  !  An'  I'm  a-goin' 
ter  ketch  them  buzzardy  rascals,  ef  I  liev  ter  go  ter 
Texas."  He  nodded  with  the  word  as  if  he  ex 
pressed  the  limits  of  the  known  globe. 

"  I'll  be  bound  ye  do,  sher'ff !"  cried  the  black 
smith's  father,  with  an  eagerness  to  bring  himself  to 


289 

the  great  man's  notice  and  impress  his  own  impor 
tance — a  characteristic  of  local  magnates  other  than 
rural.  He  had  seized  upon  the  first  opportunity,  and 
thus  the  matter  of  his  speech  was  less  cogent  than  he 
would  fain  have  had  it.  "  Ye  needn't  be  borryin' 
trouble  thinkin'  they  air  hid  well.  Town-folks  git 
out'n  thar  depth  mighty  quick  \vhenst  they  take  ter 
the  mountings.  I  be  a  old  man  now,  turned  sixty, 
an'  I  hev  knowed  a  power  o'  sher'ffs,  through  not 
many  bein'  re-'lected,  an'  they  don't  hev  no  trouble 
ketchin'  town  malefactors  ez  takes  ter  the  woods." 

The  sheriff  bent  his  eyes  upon  the  toe  of  his  big 
spurred  boot  as  his  long  leg  swung  it  before  him. 
A  sarcastic  smile  curved  his  shaven  lips.  It  seemed 
for  a  moment  as  if  he  would  not  speak.  Then,  with 
that  respect  for  the  old  so  habitually  shown  among 
the  mountaineers,  he  said,  "These  are  mounting 
folks — mounting  folks,  Mr.  Bakewell." 

The  smith  dropped  the  horse's  hoof,  the  knife 
clattering  upon  the  ground,  and  straightened  his  bent 
back.  "  In  the  name  o'  goodness,"  he  cried,  over 
come  with  curiosity,  "  who  hev  been  kilt  ?" 

The  sheriff,  albeit  his  enjoyment  of  the  frenzied 
interest  of  which  he  was  the  centre  showed  in  every 
line  of  his  gloomy,  important  face,  was  dominated 
by  his  official  conscience.  He  pointed  to  the  imple 
ment  on  the  ground. 

"•  Pick  up  that  thar  contraption  an'  go  to  work"  he 
said,  sternly.  "  Gimme  a  horse  ter  ride  on,  or  the 
law  will  take  arter  you,  with  a  sharp  stick,  too." 

The  smith  bent  down  to  his  work  once  more,  his 
eyes  fixed,  nevertheless,  on  the  officer's  face  instead 
of  the  hoof  between  his  knees ;  the  horse  turned 
10 


slowly  his  head,  and  looked  back  with  evident  sur 
prise  at  these  dallying  and  unprecedented  proceed 
ings. 

The  sheriff  resumed :  "  Mounting  men,  'cordin'  ter 
the  cmte-mortera  statement." 

"  Air — air  he  dead  ?"  said  one  of  the  men  on  the 
wagon  pole,  leaning  suddenly  forward. 

"  Persumed  ter  be,  hevin'  been  buried,"  replied 
the  officer,  his  sarcastic  mien  unchecked  now  by  the 
mandates  of  decorum. 

"  Mighty  fool  ter  run  agin  the  mounting  folks, 
hey?"  said  the  old  man,  reflectively  rubbing  his 
pointed  chin,  and  with  the  air  of  tempering  his  re 
grets,  as  if  he  thought  that,  with  this  foolhardy  te 
merity,  the  blood  of  the  unknown  was  presumably 
upon  his  own  head. 

"  He  war  a-travellin'  peaceable  along  the  road," 
said  the  sheriff,  suddenly  entering  upon  the  pleasure 
of  narrative  ;  "  bound  fur  the  Spondulix  Silver  Mine, 
on  the  t'other  side  o'  Big  Injun  Mounting.  An'  the 
weather  bein'  so  durned  hot,  an'  the  moon  nigh  the 
full,  he  rid  at  night,  like  mos'  folks  do,  ye  know,  the 
road  bein'  no  lonesomer  sca'cely  'n  by  day,  an'  he 
lied  fire-arms.  And  he  hed  suthin'  else  ;  he  lied 
'bout  fifteen  hundred  dollars  ter  kerry,  ez  nobody  but 
the  head  men  o'  the  mine  an'  him  knowed  'bout. 
Thar's  the  riddle  of  it !"  He  paused,  the  lids  droop 
ing  meditatively  over  his  thoughtful  eyes  as  if  he 
sought  to  pierce  the  mystery. 

"  Fifteen  hundred  dollars !"  exclaimed  the  old 
man,  as  if  he  could  hardly  credit  the  existence  of  so 
many  in  company  ;  he  had  seen  few  of  this  welcome 
denomination  at  a  time.  His  look,  unguarded  for 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLES     COUNTRY.       291 

the  moment,  implied  suspicion  that  the  sheriff  was 
drawing  the  long-bow. 

"  'Twar  ter  pay  off  the  hands  an'  some  o'  the  ex 
penses  o'  the  gear  an'  sich — they  war  behindhand 
some,"  continued  the  sheriff.  "  Thar  ain't  no  ex 
press  nor  railroad  nor  nuthin',  'ceptin'  jes'  the  mail- 
rider,  an'  they  'lowed  'twar  safer  in  this  man's  hands, 
special  ez  they  'lowed  ez  nobody  knowed  nuthin' 
'bout  it,  'ceptin'  him  an'  them.  Mus'  hev  got  out 
somehows,  though."  He  lifted  his  eyes,  scanning 
each  of  the  group  in  turn  as  if  to  note  the  impres 
sion.  "  Fur  he  'lowed  he  rid  along  feelin'  ez  free  an' 
favored  ez  ef  'twar  broad  daylight,  an'  his  horse 
travelled  well,  an'  didn't  feel  the  weather  none,  an' 
though  he  war  a  stranger  ter  the  kentry,  he  never 
thunk  o'  sech  a  thing  ez  danger  till  he  got  'bout  two 
mile  past  Doctor  Ganey's  house ;  he  war  on  the  top 
o'  a  hill,  a-beginnin'  ter  go  down,  an'  the  moon  war 
ez  bright  ez  day,  an'  him  a-whistlin'  of  a  dancin' 
chune,  whenst  he  tuk  up  a  notion  ez  thar  war  suthin' 
movin'  down  in  the  road  on  the  level ;  sorter  'peared 
ter  him  one  minit  'twar  men,  an'  the  nex'  minit  he 
'lowed  'twar  jes'  the  wind  in  a  pack  o'  bushes — 
sumach  an'  blackberries  an'  such — ter  one  side  o'  the 
road.  He  halted  fur  a  minit,  an'  didn't  see  nuthin', 
nor  hear  nuthin' ;  so  he  rid  on,  an'  whenst  he  reached 
the  levels  thar  started  up  in  the  midst  o'  the  road — 
he  'lowed  it  'peared  ter  him  ez  hell  hed  spewed  'em 
out  all  of  a  suddenty,  fur  he  couldn't  see  whar  they 
kem  from — a  gang  o'  'bout  half  a  dozen  mounting 
fellers.  He  'lowed  he  hed  never  seen  'em  afore,  an' 
they  didn't  know  him,  fur  they  called  him  *  stranger.' 
Every  man  pursented  a  pistol  at  him,  an'  look  whar 


292 

lie  would,  'twar  down  a  muzzle.  But  they  war  all  a- 
laffin'  at  him,  an'  purtendin'  not  ter  be  so  fur  on  the 
cold  side  o'  friendly  ;  they  kep'  callin'  out,  clairain' 
his  horse,  'lowin'  he  hed  stole  it  from  them,  an'  tell- 
in'  him  he  hed  ter  gin  it  up,  an'  march  afoot,  an' 
grinnin',  an'  axin'  him  ef  he  didn't  know  they  hung 
horse-thieves,  an'  sayin'  they  war  a-goin'  ter  make 
him  git  down  on  his  knees  an'  thank  them  fur  his 
life;  an'  he  war  a-declarin'  an'  a-protestin',  an' 
though  he  had  drawed  his  pistol,  he  hadn't  fired  it. 
An'  ez  they  war  a-tryin'  ter  pull  him  out'n  the  sad 
dle,  one  sly  rascal  cut  the  girth,  an'  an  idee  kem  ter 
him  ez  the  whole  consarn  lurched  ;  he  slipped  his 
feet  out'n  the  stirrups,  an'  let  saddle  an'  saddle-bags 
drap  ter  the  ground,  fur  he  'lowed  they  meant  ter 
kill  him,  sure,  an'  that  way  he  got  loosed  fur  a  sec 
ond,  an'  in  that  second  he  whirled  his  horse  round 
an'  galloped  along  the  road,  leadin'  the  gang  that 
fired  arter  him  at  every  jump.  One  bullet  went 
through  his  lung — lef  lung  I  b'lieve  Doctor  Ganey 
say.  I  ain't  sure  now  whether  'twar  lef,  or  right,  or 
middle,  or  what  not ;  leastwise  Doctor  Ganey  pulled 
a  tur'ble  long  face  whenst  the  man  had  eluded  the 
horse-thieves  an'  got  inter  his  hands." 

"  Dun'no'  which  war  the  the  fryin'-pan  an'  which 
war  the  fire,  myself,"  commented  old  Bakewell. 

"  But  he  tole  the  man  at  fust  he  wouldn't  die," 
continued  the  sheriff. 

"  But  I  could  hev  tole  him  he  would  whenst  he 
called  Doctor  Ganey,"  chuckled  the  sexagenarian. 

The  officer  looked  somewhat  surprised,  for  the 
"  valley  folks"  thought  a  trifle  better  of  science  ex 
pressed  in  drugs  than  did  the  mountaineers,  who 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S "    COUNTRY.        293 

presumed  them  to  be  the  spontaneous  production  of 
the  apothecary  shop,  and  thus  opposed  to  nature,  ex 
pressed  in  herbs.  He  was,  however,  country-bred, 
hailing  originally  from  one  of  the  mountain  spurs, 
and  had  been  transplanted  to  the  town  only  by  the 
repeated  success  of  his  political  schemes,  resulting  in 
his  election  to  the  office  of  sheriff  on  more  than  one 
occasion.  The  rural  standpoint  medically  was  thus 
perfectly  comprehensible  to  him ;  and,  being  in  full 
health,  entirely  independent  of  aught  that  Doctor 
Ganey  might  or  might  not  know,  he  himself  leaned 
to  facile  disparagement. 

"  Folks  in  Colbury  'lowed  Doctor  Ganey  ought  not 
ter  hev  let  him  be  brung  ter  town  nex'  day  in  the 
cool  o'  the  mornin'  on  a  spring  bed  an'  in  a  spring 
wagon ;  though  he  war  tumble  anxious  ter  be  sure 
ter  make  a  ante-mortem  statement ;  the  robbers  hed 
got  the  saddle-bags  an'  money,  ye  see,  an'  he  didn't 
want  folks  ter  think  'twar  him  ez  stole  it." 

There  was  a  momentary  pause,  broken  only  by  the 
sharp  staccato  sound  of  the  hammer  within  the  shop, 
beating  into  shape  the  shoe  that  must  be  fitted  to  the 
hoof  ;  the  horse  outside  turned  his  glossy  neck,  hold 
ing  up  the  unshod  hind  foot  a  trifle  from  the  ground, 
and  looked  through  the  door  into  the  dark  interior 
of  the  forge,  where  the  smith's  figure  was  to  be  dimly 
discerned  in  the  scanty  flicker  of  the  smouldering 
fire;  the  animal  watched  the  process  with  a  definite 
anxiety  and  interest  that  seemed  to  bespeak  a  desire 
to  superintend  its  proper  performance.  His  resigna 
tion  to  human  guidance  evidently  arose  more  from 
the  constraint  of  circumstance  than  reliance  on  man's 
superior  wisdom.  More  than  once  the  blacksmith 


294      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

stopped  to  listen,  and  afterward  the  matters  at  the 
forge  went  awry ;  outside  one  could  hear  him  mut 
tering  surly  comments  upon  the  inanimate  appurte 
nances,  especially  when  he  dropped  the  hot  iron  once 
in  taking  it  from  the  coals,  letting  it  slip  through  the 
inadequate  grasp  of  the  tongs,  and  requested  it  to  go 
to  a  hotter  place  even  than  the  fire,  and  there  to  be 
infinitely  and  illimitably  "  dad-burned."  All  of  which 
had  as  little  effect  as  such  objurgations  usually  do 
upon  the  insensate  offender ;  but  the  ebullitions 
seemed  to  serve,  like  thunder,  to  clear  the  atmos 
phere,  and  to  enable  the  smith  better  to  resign  him 
self  to  the  terrible  deprivation  of  the  sheriff's  talk, 
lost  in  the  reverberations  of  his  own  hammer  and  the 
sibilant  singing  of  the  anvil. 

Outside,  the  sound  hardly  impinged  upon  the  priv 
ilege  of  conversation.  The  sheriff's  lip  was  curling  ; 
he  hastily  shifted  one  leg  over  the  other,  and  this 
posture  enabled  him  to  eye  the  toe  of  his  boot,  with 
which  he  seemed  to  have  confidences  in  some  sort, 
reverting  to  it  in  moments  when  at  a  loss,  as  if  its 
contemplation  in  some  incomprehensible  way  re 
freshed  his  memory. 

"  Waal,  the  bosses  o'  the  consarn — shucks !  mighty 
knowin'  cusses — they  would  hev  it  'twar  some  folks 
down  yander  neighborin'  the  mines.  I  won't  say 
who,  and  I  won't  say  what,"  he  interpolated,  with 
a  sudden  recollection  of  a  seemly  official  reticence ; 
"  but  ez  'twar  thought  the  man  wouldn't  die,  an'  all 
war  keen  ter  git  holt  o'  the  money  agin,  I  hed  ter  go 
fust  an'  air  thar  s'picions,  ez  arter  a-chasin'  an'  a- 
racin'  an'  keepin'  secret  an'  mighty  dark  turned  out 
rmthin'  at  all.  Fust  one  man  an'  then  t'other  showed 


295 

up  in  a  different  place  that  night.  Every  one !  I 
lef  word  with  my  dep'ty,  Ben  Boker,  who  'twas  / 
wanted  looked  arter,  an'  he  tuk  sick  with  the  bilious 
fever  the  very  day  I  lef,  an'  air  a-bed  yit ;  so  I  hev 
got  behindhand  with  this  job,  an'  I  hope  the  folks 
won't  lay  it  up  agin  me." 

"Waal,"  said  the  old  man,  leaning  forward,  his 
hard  hands  clasped,  a  smile  upon  his  wrinkled  face, 
a  slender  sunbeam  sifting  through  the  boughs  of  the 
oak-tree,  touching  the  thick  tufts  of  gray  hair  on  his 
brow,  and  brightening  them  to  a  whiter  lustre,  "  I'll  be 
bound  old  man  Ganey  warn't  behindhand  with  his  job," 
and  he  lifted  his  heavy  eyebrows  and  chuckled  softly. 

"  Naw,  sir,"  said  the  officer,  respectfully.  "  The 
doctor's  job  tuk  off  day  before  yestiddy  mornin'  'fore 
daybreak.  The  doctor  'lowed  ef  he  could  make  sun 
up  he  mought  last  through  till  evenin'.  But  he  had 
seen  his  las'  sunrise." 

"  Ez  ef  Dr.  Ganey  knowed  sech,"  exclaimed  the 
old  man.  "  He  'pears  ter  me  ez  ef  his  foolishness 
grows  on  him.  Ye'll  die  whenst  yer  time  kerns,  an' 
it'll  kem  mighty  quick  ef  ye  hev  in  Ganey.  An'  yit," 
with  a  nodding  head  and  narrowing  eyes,  "thar  be 
them  ez  fairly  pins  thar  hopes  o'  salvation  on  ter  the 
wisdom,  that  air  foolishness,  o'  that  old  consarn. 
Thar's  a  valley  man,  Shattuck,  ez  hev  been  'bidin' 
fur  a  while  with  Len  Rhodes  in  the  cove,  a-holpin' 
him  'lectioneer,  an'  whenst  Len  fell  down  a-dancin' 
— mus'  hev  been  drunk — at  the  Pettingill  infair,  an' 
seemed  ter  bump  his  head  a  passel,  an'  shed  some 
blood,  nuthin'  would  do  this  Shattuck  but  Ganey 
mus'  be  sent  fur.  He  threatened  old  man  Pettingill 
with  the  gallus  ef  Rhodes  should  die." 


296       IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  Old  Zack  Pettingill !  Why,  lie's  one  of  my  bes* 
friends,  an'  a  better  man  never  lived,"  interrupted 
the  officer,  although  he  lent  an  attentive  ear,  for 
Rhodes  was  of  the  opposite  party,  and  the  sheriff 
was  a  candidate  for  re-election." 

"  Yes,  sir  " — the  old  man  redoubled  his  emphasis 
— "  though  Phil  Craig  war  in  the  house  a-bathin'  the 
wounds  an'  a-bindin'  'em  up  with  yerbs  ter  take  the 
soreness  out.  An'  ef  ye'll  b'lieve  me  he  cavorted  so 
ez  old  Zack  Pettingill,  though  an  obstinate  old  sinner, 
hed  ter  gin  up,  an'  put  Steve  Yates  on  his  bes'  horse, 
an1  send  seventeen  miles  fur  Ganey.  It  all  'peared 
so  onreasonable  an'  so  all-fired  redic'lous  ez  I  couldn't 
holp  but  b'lieve  ez  this  hyar  Shattuck  hed  some  yer- 
rand  o'  his  own  ter  send  Yates  on,  special  ez  Dr. 
Ganey  never  kem." 

"  P'litical  bizness — bribery  an'  sech,"  suggested 
the  sheriff,  acrimoniously,  for  each  man  was  phenom 
enally  eager  for  the  success  of  the  whole  ticket.  So 
closely  were  the  opposing  factions  matched,  so  high 
ran  party  spirit  in  this  section,  that  his  own  candi 
dacy,  albeit  for  a  far  different  office,  made  him  in 
some  sort  Rhodcs's  opponent. 

"  Mought  hev  been  electioneerin'.  I  hev  always 
'lowed,  though,  whenst  ye  fund  out  whar  Steve  Yates 
be  now,  ye'll  find  out  what  Shattuck  sent  him  fur, 
though  some  say  Yates  jes'  hed  a  quar'l  with  his 
wife,  an'  hed  run  away  from  her." 

The  officer's  color  suddenly  changed ;  it  beat  hot 
in  his  bronzed  cheeks ;  it  seemed  even  to  deepen  in 
his  eyes,  that  were  of  too  light  a  tint  ordinarily.  He 
pushed  his  hat  back  from  his  brow,  where  the  beads  of 
perspiration  had  started  in  the  roots  of  his  brown  hair. 


COUNTRY.         297 

"  Hain't  Yates  kem  back  yet  ?"  he  asked,  breath 
lessly. 

"  Hide  nor  hair  hev  been  seen  o'  him  since  that 
night." 

"  What  night  2"  demanded  the  officer. 

"  Night  o'  the  Pettingill  infair,  o'  course,"  rejoined 
the  old  man,  tartly  ;  "  an'  that  war  the  second  day  o' 
July — a  Friday  it  war  ;  they  oughter  hev  got  the 
weddin'  over  'fore  Friday.  Them  young  folks  can't 
expec'  no  luck." 

"  They  can't  hev  none  worse'n  they  hev  hed,  'cordin' 
ter  my  view,  a-marryin'  one  another.  The  Lord's 
been  toler'ble  hard  on  'em  a'ready,  I'm  thinkin'." 

This  observation  came  from  one  of  the  men  perched 
on  the  pole  of  the  broken  wagon,  reputed  to  be  a  re 
jected  suitor  of  the  bride,  and  a  defeated  rival  of  the 
groom.  The  opportunity  for  the  ridicule  of  senti 
mental  woe  in  which  the  rustic  delights  was  too  good 
to  be  lost,  and  under  the  cloak  of  the  raillery  the 
sheriff  unobtrusively  drew  out  a  note-book  and  casu 
ally  referred  to  it.  The  night  of  the  second  of  July 
— a  Friday  night — the  agent  of  the  Spondulix  Mine 
was  waylaid  by  horse-thieves,  lost  his  saddle  and  the 
treasure  in  his  saddle-bags  in  the  fracas,  and  received 
in  his  flight  such  wounds  that  he  died  thereof  within 
a  few  weeks.  The  officer  had  closed  the  book  and 
returned  it  to  his  pocket  before  the  attention  of  the 
party  had  reverted  to  him  anew. 

"  What  sorter  man  air  this  hyar  Shattuck  ?"  he 
asked,  casually,  as  he  held  a  huge  plug  of  tobacco 
between  his  teeth,  from  which  they  gnawed,  with  an 
admirable  display  of  energy,  a  fragment  for  present 
use.  "  What  sorter  man  ?" 


298      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

"  Waal,"  said  old  Bakewell,  narrowing  his  eyes 
and  pursing  his  mouth  critically,  as  he  glanced  ab 
sently  down  at  a  brilliant  patch  of  sunshine,  gilded 
and  yellow  in  the  midst  of  the  dark  olive-green  shad 
ow  of  the  oak-tree,  "  I  dun'no'  what  ter  say  'bout'n 
a  man  ez  goes  roun'  pay  in'  folks  ter  dig  in  Injun 
mounds  fur  a  lot  o'  bowls  an'  jars  an'  sech  like, 
whenst  fur  the  money  he  could  buy  better  ones  right 
down  yander  at  the  store." 

The  officer  had  faced  about  on  the  barrel  and  sat 
bolt-upright,  a  hand  on  either  knee,  his  amazement 
looking  alertly  out  of  his  light-gray  eyes. 

"  He  hev  quit  that,  though,  lately,"  the  smith  struck 
in,  dropping  the  hoof  to  which  he  had  tentatively 
applied  the  shoe  and  standing  still,  half  supporting 
himself  with  his  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  animal, 
who  once  more  turned  his  head  with  a  slow,  depre 
catory  motion,  and  gazed  back  upon  the  displeasing 
and  seemingly  incompetent  doings  of  this  dilatory 
workman.  "  Baker  Anderson — he's  a  half -grown  boy 
ez  hev  been  'bidin'  at  Mis'  Yates's  of  a  night  ter  keer 
fur  the  house  agin  lawless  ones  an'  sech — he  kem 
hyar  this  mornin'  ter  git  his  plough  sharpened,  an' 
he  'lows  ez  this  hyar  Shattuck  say  he  wants  ter  dig 
up  the  bones  of  the  Leetle  People,  buried  nigh  the 
ruver  on  Fee  Guthrie's  Ian'.  An'  Steve  favored  it ; 
but  Mis'  Yates  'lowed  she'd  shoot  him  ef  he  tampered 
with  the  Leetle  People's  bones,  an'  Baker  'lows  ez  that 
war  why  Steve  lef  her." 

"  The  Leetle  People  !"  echoed  the  sheriif  in  a  dazed 
tone,  as  if  he  hardly  believed  his  ears. 

"  Lord  A'mighty,  Tawmmy  Carew !  Hain't  ye 
never  heard  'bout  a  lot  o'  small-sized  people,  no  big- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        299 

ger'n  chil'n,  ez  lied  this  kentry  'fore  the  Injun  kem — 
'bout  the  time  o'  the  flood,  I  reckon."  Old  Bake- 
well  hardily  hazarded  this  speculation,  which  had 
about  as  much  justification  of  probability  as  the  con 
clusions  of  many  other  scientists  of  more  preten 
sions.  "  Hey  ye  got  yer  growth  ez  a  man,  an'  lived 
ter  be  'lected  sher'ff  o'  the  county,  an'  ter  thrive  on 
the  hope  o'  bein'  'lected  agin,  an'  yit  air  ez  green 
cz  a  gourd? — so  green  ez  never  ter  hev  hearn  tell  o' 
the  Leetle  Stranger  People  ?"  demanded  the  old  man, 
scornfully. 

Thus  adjured,  the  sheriff,  for  his  credit's  sake,  was 
fain  to  refresh  his  memory.  "  'Pears  like  I  useter 
know  some  sech  old  tale  ez  that,  but  I  had  nigh  for 
got  it,"  he  said,  mendaciously,  the  lie  staring  irre- 
pressibly  out  of  his  widely  opened,  astonished  eyes. 
"  I  never  'lowed  it  war  true." 

"  But  it  air  true,"  said  the  smith,  the  shoe  and 
hammer  hanging  listlessly  in  one  hand,  while  the 
other,  leaning  heavily  on  the  horse's  back,  sufficed  to 
transfer  much  of  his  weight  to  the  animal.  "  They 
air  the  nighest  neighbors  Mis'  Yates  hev  got.  An* 
though  Steve  an'  this  man  Shattuck  agreed  so  mighty 
well,  Mis'  Yates  couldn't  abide  the  idee  o'  diggin'  up 
the  Leetle  People's  bones,  an'  swore  she'd  shoot  enny- 
body  ez  tried  it.  An',  by  hokey  " — with  a  sudden 
excitement  in  his  eyes — "  she  done  it !  Las'  night, 
Baker  say,  this  man  an'  Rhodes  war  thar  in  the  pig 
buryin'-ground — he  calls  them  humans  *  pigs ' — an' 
she  gin  'em  two  toler'ble  fair  shots.  Shoots  toler'ble 
well  fur  a  'oman.  Baker  say  the  bullet  cut  through 
Shattuck's  hair  good  fashion." 

"  Waal,  that's  agin  the  law,"  said  the  sheriff,  with 


his  bitter,  implacable  official  expression ;  "  assault 
with  intent  to  kill." 

"  Oh,  shet  up,  Tawmmy,"  the  old  man  admonished 
him  from  the  vantage-ground  of  his  age  and  experi 
ence.  "  What  else  air  fire-arms  manufactured  fur?" 

Beyond  this  cogent  reasoning  "  Tawmmy's  "  spec 
ulation  could  not  go.  Nevertheless,  he  was  sworn  to 
administer  the  law,  albeit  thrice  proven  a  foolish  de 
vice  of  fools,  and  his  brow  did  not  relax.  It  was 
with  a  dark  frown,  indeed,  that  he  contemplated  the 
mental  image  of  Mrs.  Yates,  because  he  felt  that  it 
behooved  women  so  to  order  their  walk  and  conver 
sation  as  to  keep  without  the  notice  of  the  law,  since 
it  was  infinitely  unpalatable  to  him  to  enforce  it 
where  they  were  concerned,  making  him,  rather  than 
the  culprit,  the  sufferer,  and  forcing  him  to  endure 
many  unclassified  phases  and  extremes  of  mental  an 
guish.  He  protested  at  times  that  they  ought  to  be 
exempted  from  the  operations  of  the  law.  "  They 
ain't  got  no  reason,  nohow,"  he  gallantly  assever 
ated.  "  An'  what  sorter  figure  does  a  big  man  cut 
arrestin'  a  leetle  bit  of  a  'oman  ?  An'  no  jury  ain't 
goin'  ter  convict  'em,  ef  they  kin  git  around  it,  an' 
no  jedge  ain't  goin'  ter  charge  agin  'em,  ef  he  kin 
holp  himself.  The  law  jes'  devils  the  sher'ff  with 
'em;  he  hev  got  ter  go  through  all  the  motions  fur 
nuthin'.  They  say  Jedge  Kinnear  air  a  out  an'  out 
'oman's  jedge.  An'  no  man,  even  in  civil  cases,  hev 
got  a  chance  agin  enny  'oman  or  enny  minor  chil'n, 
gals  'specially,  in  his  court.  Waal,  now,  Vm  a 
man's  sher'fL  An'  I  want  the  wimmin  an'  chil'n  ter 
keep  out'n  my  way,  an'  I'll  keep  out'n  theirn." 

Shattuck,  however,  and    especially    as   connected 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.   301 

with  Rhodes,  offered  a  prospect  more  in  keeping 
with  his  professions  and  views  of  his  office.  "  What 
do  he  want  ter  dig  up  thar  bones  fur  ?"  he  demanded. 
"  That  air  agin  the  law,  too." 

"  Fur  the  hist'ry  o'  the  kentry,  Baker  say,"  the 
smith  suggested ;  the  phrase  seemed  to  have  a  sort 
of  coherency  that  commended  it  generally. 

But  the  sheriff  shook  his  head.  "  I  Lev  studied 
the  hist'ry  o'  the  kentry,"  he  asserted,  capably.  "  I 
hev  'tended  school,  an'  the  Leetle  People  hain't  got 
nuthin'  ter  do  with  the  hist'ry  o'  the  kentry.  I  read 
'bout  the  Injun  war,  an'  the  Revolutionary  war,  an' 
the  Mexican  war,  an'  this  las'  leetle  war  o'  ourn,  an' 
the  Leetle  People  warn't  in  none  of  'em." 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  looking  at  the  ground, 
his  head  tilted  askew,  a  wistful  expression  on  his 
face,  so  did  the  mystery  baffle  him. 

The  light  taps  of  the  hammer  sounding  on  the  air 
as  the  smith  drove  in  the  last  nail  were  suddenly 
blended  with  the  quick  hoof-beats  of  a  galloping 
horse,  and  Guthrie,  mounted  on  Cheever's  famous 
roan,  came  into  view  along  the  vista  of  the  road, 
reining  up  under  the  tree  as  he  recognized  the 
sheriff. 

It  was  a  scene  remembered  for  many  a  day,  repro 
duced  as  the  preamble  of  the  fireside  tale  recited 
for  years  afterward  by  the  by-standers.  The  sheriff, 
standing  with  his  hand  on  the  forelock  of  the  cap 
tive  charger,  his  head  a  trifle  bent,  listened  with  a 
languid  competent  smile  as  if  he  had  known  before 
all  that  the  horseman  recounted ;  Guthrie  himself, 
pale  from  the  loss  of  blood,  his  hair  hanging  upon 
his  shoulders,  his  face,  so  fierce,  so  austere,  framed 


302       IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

by  Ms  big  black  hat,  his  spurs  jingling  on  his  high 
boots,  his  pistols  and  formidable  knife  in  his  belt, 
began  to  take  to  their  accustomed  eyes  the  changed 
guise  which  afterward  attended  his  personality  when 
they  told  of  the  part  he  bore  and  of  all  that  befell 
him.  The  only  exclamations  came  from  the  spec 
tators,  as  they  pressed  close  about  the  two  restive 
horses.  They  fell  back  amazed  and  impressed  by 
the  official  coolness  when  all  was  done,  and  the  sheriff 
turned  calmly  aside. 

"Come,  Guthric,"  he  only  said,  "you  may  ride 
with  me  to-day." 

And  with  this -he  put  his  foot  in  the  stirrup. 


XV. 

THE  accuracy  of  Felix  Outline's  oft-vaunted  aim 
was  attested  by  two  ghastly  objects  that  had  exhaled 
life  and  found  their  doom  in  Crazy  Zeb's  cell.  In 
the  presence  of  these  dumb  witnesses  of  the  struggle, 
lying  surrounded  by  the  charred  and  cold  remnants 
of  the  fire,  and  scattered  hay  and  corn  which  the 
vanished  horses  had  left,  and  shadowed  by  the 
gloomy  gray  walls  with  their  sinister  resonance,  the 
place  seemed  charged  with  the  tragedies  of  its  asso 
ciations,  frightful  to  contemplate,  ill  to  linger  about, 
and  far  removed  from  any  possible  conjunction  with 
the  idea  of  mirth  and  the  festivities  which  a  greasy, 
thickened  pack  of  cards  strewed  about  the  two 
bodies,  and  a  flask,  broken  by  its  fall  on  the  rock, 
but  still  containing  whiskey,  might  betoken.  The 
chilly  vault  opened  upon  the  serene  splendors  of 
the  infinitely  pellucid  sunshine  that  glowed  to  mid 
summer  warmth.  Had  ever  the  sky  worn  so  dense, 
so  keen,  so  clear  a  blue  ?  It  discredited  the  azure  of 
the  far  western  mountains,  and  marked  how  the  ma 
terial,  even  attenuated  by  distance  to  the  guise  of  the 
veriest  vapor,  fails  of  the  true  ethereal  tint  of  the 
ambient  spaces  of  the  air.  The  birds  sang  from  the 
sun-flooded  trees  just  beneath  the  cliff — so  limpidly 
sweet  the  tones ! — and  within  were  two  men  dead  in 
their  sins,  in  this  drear  place  that  had  known  woe. 


304   IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY. 

Death  is  not  easily  predicable  of  those  of  a  com 
mon  household,  and  in  this  scantily  populated  region 
the  sense  of  community  is  close.  There  were  some 
involuntary  exclamations  from  the  posse  upon  the 
recognition  of  the  malefactors,  implying  a  sense  of 
catastrophe  and  regret ;  especially  for  one  of  them,  a 
young  man  with  the  down  on  his  lips,  his  face  and 
posture  contorted  with  the  agony  long  endured  while 
he  had  lain  here  deserted  in  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
lighted  only  by  the  mystic  moon,  beside  the  stark 
figure  of  his  comrade,  who  had  been  shot  through  the 
heart,  dying  in  the  space  of  a  second. 

"  Lordy  massy  'pon  my  soul,  ef  hyar  ain't  Benjy 
Svvasey  f  What  a  tumble  time  he  mus'  hev  hed 
afore  he  tuk  off  !"  cried  old  Bakewell,  his  pallid  face 
aquiver,  and  his  voice  faltering  as  he  bent  over  the 
recumbent  form. 

The  sight  and  the  circumstance  failed  to  affect  the 
official  nerve  of  the  sheriff.  "Now  this  is  plumb 
satisfactory,"  he  remarked.  "  I  never  expected  ter 
see  Buck  Cheever  in  this  fix.  I  'lowed  the  devil 
takes  too  good  care  o'  his  own.  It's  mighty  satis 
factory.  I  hed  planned,1'  he  added,  as  he  looked 
about  at  the  high  roof  and  the  inaccessible  depths 
below,  "  that  I'd  blow  up  this  place  some  with  giant 
powder  or  sech  ;  but  I  reckon  I  hed  better  let  it  be — 
it  does  lead  the  evil-doer  ter  sech  a  bad  end  !" 

But  the  old  man  still  leaned  with  a  pitiful  corru 
gated  brow  over  the  lifeless  figure.  Age  had  made 
his  heart  tender,  and  he  chose  to  disregard  the  logic 
that  spoke  from  the  muzzles  of  Swasey's  discharged 
pistols,  one  lying  close  by,  and  from  Cheever's  bloody 
knife  still  held  in  the  stiffened  clasp  of  the  hand  that 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        305 

had  wielded  it.  "  Fee,"  lie  said,  tremulously,  «'  ye 
shoot  too  straight." 

And  Guthrie,  his  hand  meditatively  laid  on  his 
chin,  and  his  eyes  staring  absently  forward  as  if 
they  beheld  more  or  less  than  was  before  them,  re 
plied,  "  That's  a  true  word,  I  reckon." 

The  air  freighted  with  tragedy,  with  all  the  ulti 
mate  anguish  of  life  and  sin  and  death,  seemed  to 
receive  with  a  sort  of  shock  the  sheriff's  gay  rallying 
laughter  as  he  clapped  Guthrie's  shoulder. 

"  Then,  Fee,  my  fine  young  rooster,  ef  ye  hedn't 
shot  straight  I'd  be  a-sendin'  fur  the  coroner  ter  kern 
an'  set  on  you  /" 

"  'Pears  ter  me,"  said  the  blacksmith,  who  still 
had  on  his  leather  apron,  having  forgotten,  in  the  ex 
citement,  to  lay  it  aside,  and  gazing  with  dilated  eyes 
at  the  blood  stains  on  the  rock  floor — "  'pears  ter 
me  he'd  hev  a  mighty  oneasy  seat  on  Fee,  dead  or 
alive." 

The  sheriff's  jaunty  jubilance,  in  that  the  law 
breakers  had  been  so  smartly  overtaken,  attended 
him  through  the  woods  and  down  the  road,  as  he 
cantered  at  the  head  of  his  posse,  all  armed  and  jing 
ling  with  spurs  —  a  cavalcade  both  imposing  and 
awful  to  the  few  spectators  which  the  sparsely  pop 
ulated  country  could  muster,  summoned  out  from 
the  cabins  by  the  sound  of  galloping  horses  and  the 
loud-pitched  talk.  The  elders  stood  and  stared ; 
tow-headed  children,  peeping  through  the  lower  rails 
of  the  fence,  received  a  salutary  impression,  and  be 
held,  as  it  were,  the  majesty  of  the  law,  materialized 
in  this  gallant  style,  riding  forth  to  maintain  its  su 
premacy.  Only  the  dogs  were  unreceptive  to  the 
20 


subtler  significance  of  the  unwonted  apparition,  evi 
dently  accounting  it  merely  a  gang  of  men,  and,  ac 
cording  to  the  disposition  of  the  individual  animal, 
either  accepting  the  fact  quietly,  with  affably  wagging 
tail,  or  plunging  into  the  road  in  frenzied  excitement, 
and  with  yelps  and  defiant  barking  pursuing  the  par 
ty  out  of  sight  of  the  house,  then  trotting  home  with 
a  triumphant  mien.  The  tragedy  that  the  posse  had 
found  in  Crazy  Zeb's  cell  lingered  still  in  the  minds 
of  two  or  three  of  the  horsemen,  their  silence  and 
gloomy,  downcast  faces  betokening  its  influence  ; 
but  the  others  instinctively  sought  to  cast  it  off,  and 
the  effort  was  aided  by  the  sunshine,  the  quick  pace, 
the  briskening  wind,  and  the  cheery  companionship 
of  the  officer.  He  seemed  to  have  no  receptivity  for 
the  sorrowful  aspects  of  the  event,  and  his  spirits 
showed  no  signs  of  flagging  until  he  drew  rein  at  the 
door-yard  of  one  of  the  escaped  robbers  with  whose 
names  Outline  had  furnished  him. 

"  'Ain't  he  got  no  sort'n  men  kin-folks  ?"  he  asked, 
his  cheery,  resonant  voice  hardly  recognizable  in  the 
querulous  whine  with  which  he  now  spoke.  "  Lord 
have  mercy  on  my  soul !  how  am  I  a-goin'  ter  make 
out  a-catechisin'  the  man's  wife  an'  mother  'bout'n 
him  !  Git  off'n  yer  horse  thar,  Jim.  'Light,  I  tell 
ye,  an'  kern  along  in  the  house  with  me  ter  holp  bol 
ster  me  up." 

In  several  of  these  doomed  households  the  forlorn 
women,  in  their  grief  and  despair,  turned  fierce  and 
wielded  a  biting  tongue ;  and  as  the  hapless  officer 
showed  an  infinite  capacity  for  anxious  deprecation, 
their  guarded  sarcasms  waxed  to  a  vindictive  temer 
ity.  Among  them  he  was  greatly  harassed,  and  more 


307 

than  once  lie  was  violently  threatened.  Indeed, 
one  old  crone  rose  tremulously  up  in  the  chimney- 
corner  as  he  sat  before  the  fire,  after  searching  the 
premises,  keenly  questioning  the  younger  members 
of  the  family,  and  with  her  tremulous,  aged  palm 
she  smote  him  twice  in  the  face.  He  sat  quite  still, 
although  the  color  mounted  to  the  roots  of  his  hair, 
while  her  children  in  frantic  fear  besought  her  to 
desist. 

"  Lord  knows,  Mis'  Derridge,"  he  said,  looking 
meekly  at  her,  "  I'd  be  willin'  fur  ye  ter  take  a  hick 
ory  sprout  an'  gin  me  a  reg'lar  whalin'  ef  'twould 
mend  the  matter  enny,  or  make  yer  son  Josiah  a 
diffent  man  from  what  he  hev  turned  out.  I  reckon 
ye  oughter  hev  gin  him  a  tap  or  two  more'n  ye 
done.  But  ef  it  eases  yer  feelin's  ter  pitch  inter  me, 
jes'  pitch  in,  an'  welcome  !  I  don't  wonder  at  ye, 
nuther." 

She  stared  at  him  irresolutely  from  out  her  bleared 
eyes,  then  burst  into  that  weeping  so  terrible  to  wit 
ness  in  the  aged,  bewailing  that  she  had  ever  lived 
to  see  the  day,  and  calling  f  utilely  on  Heaven  to  turn 
the  time  back  that  she  might  be  dead  ten  years  ago, 
and  upbraiding  the  earth  that  so  long  it  had  grudged 
her  a  grave. 

The  officer  found  it  hard  after  this  scene  to  lay 
hold  on  his  own  bold  identity  again,  and  he  had 
naught  to  say  when  he  got  on  his  horse  and  rode 
away.  It  became  possible  to  reassert  himself  and 
his  office  only  when  he  chanced  upon  a  household 
where  there  were  men  and  boys.  There  he  raged 
around  in  fine  style,  and  frowned  and  swore  and 
threatened,  every  creature  trembling  before  the  very 


308     IN  THE   "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

sound  of  his  voice.  Thus  he  made  restitution  in 
some  sort  to  the  terrors  of  the  law,  defrauded  by 
his  former  weakness  of  their  wonted  fierce  effec 
tiveness. 

The  afternoon  was  on  the  wane,  and  no  captures 
had  been  made  ;  the  cavalcade  was  about  turning 
from  the  door  of  a  house — it  was  the  last  to  be  vis 
ited,  the  most  distant  of  all — a  poor  place,  perched 
high  up  on  the  rugged  slope  of  the  mountain,  with  a 
vast  forest  below  it  and  on  either  hand,  from  the 
midst  of  which  it  looked  upon  a  splendid  affluent 
territory  seeming  infinite  in  extent.  Peak  and  range, 
valley  and  river,  were  all  in  the  sunset  tints — purple 
and  saffron  and  a  suffusive  blood-red  flush,  all  soft 
ened  and  commingled  by  the  haze ;  and  above,  the 
rich  yellow  lucency  of  the  crystalline  skies.  A 
lateral  spur  was  in  the  immediate  foreground,  high, 
steep,  and  heavily  wooded,  the  monotony  of  the 
deep,  restful  green  of  its  slopes  broken  here  and 
there  by  vertical  lines  of  gleaming  white,  betokening 
the  trunks  of  the  beech-trees  amidst  the  dark  pre 
ponderance  of  walnut  and  pine  ;  more  than  one  hung, 
all  bleached  and  leafless,  head  downward,  half  up 
rooted,  for  thus  the  wind,  past  this  long  time,  left 
trace  of  its  fury.  A  stream — a  native  mountaineer, 
wild  and  free  and  strong — took  its  way  down  the 
gorge  between  the  spur  and  the  mountain  from 
which  it  shot  forth.  From  the  door-yard  might  be 
had  a  view  of  a  section  of  its  course,  the  water  flow- 
ins:  in  smooth  scroll-like  swirls  from  the  centre  to  the 

O 

bank,  and  thence  out  again,  the  idea  of  a  certain 
symmetry  of  the  current  thus  suggested  in  linear 
grace — all  crystal  clear,  now  a  jade-like  green,  and 


IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE'S  "  COUNTRY.   309 

again  the  brownish  yellow  of  a  topaz,  save  where  the 
rapids  flung  up  a  sudden  commotion  of  white  foam 
that  seemed  all  alive,  as  if  some  submerged  amphib 
ian  gambollings  made  the  depths  joyous.  The  crags 
stood  out  distinct  on  either  hand,  with  here  and 
there  a  flower  sweetly  smiling  in  a  niche,  like  some 
unexpected  tenderness  in  a  savage  heart.  All  was 
very  fresh,  very  keenly  and  clearly  colored  ;  the 
weeds,  rank  and  high,  sent  up  a  rich  aromatic  odor. 

The  officer,  for  years  a  farmer,  and  alive  to  all 
weather  signs,  hardly  needed  a  second  glance  at  the 
clear  tint  of  the  vigorous  mould  of  the  door-yard  be 
neath  his  feet  to  know  that  it  had  rained  here  lately. 
"  The  drought  in  town  ain't  bruk  yit,"  he  said,  half 
enviously — a  mere  habit,  for  he  had  now  no  crops  to 
suffer  from  stress  of  weather.  Here  there  had  been 
copious  storms,  with  thunder  and  lightning,  gracious 
to  the  corn  and  the  cotton,  and  not  disdaining  the 
humbler  growths  of  the  wayside,  the  spontaneous 
joyance  of  nature.  The  torrents  had  fallen  in  a  de 
cisive  rhythm ;  the  ground  was  beaten  hard ;  the 
rails  of  the  fence  looked  dark  and  clean ;  the  wasp 
nests  and  the  cobwebs  were  torn  away — alack  for  the 
patient  weavings! — the  roof  of  the  little  cabin  was 
still  sleek  and  shining.  As  he  turned  on  his  heel 
he  marked  how  the  new-built  hay-stacks  were  al 
ready  weathering,  all  streaked  with  brown. 

He  had  searched  the  little  barn  whose  roof  showed 
behind  the  hay -stacks,  but  as  he  glanced  toward  it, 
in  the  mere  relapse  of  bucolic  sentiment,  he  became 
vaguely  aware  of  an  intent  watchfulness  in  the  lantern- 
jawed  and  haggard  woman  of  the  house,  who  had 
followed  him  and  his  party  to  the  fence,  in  hospital- 


310       IN  THE 

ity,  it  might  seem,  or  to  see  them  safely  off  the  place. 
The  reflection  of  her  look — it  was  but  a  look,  and  he 
did  not  realize  it  then ;  lie  remembered  it  afterward 
— was  in  the  eyes  of  a  tallow-faced,  shock-headed 
girl  of  ten.  His  own  eyes  paused  in  disparagement 
upon  her ;  the  hem  of  her  cotton  dress  was  tattered 
out  and  hung  down  about  her  bare  ankles,  all  stained 
with  red  clay  mud.  There  were  straws  clinging  to 
her  attire,  and  here  and  there  in  her  tousled  red  hair. 
He  was  no  precisian,  to  be  sure,  but  her  unkempt  as 
pect  grated  upon  him  ;  these  were  truly  shiftless 
folks,  and  had  a  full  measure  of  his  contempt,  which 
he  felt  they  richly  merited ;  and  so  he  turned  once 
more  to  the  fence,  facing  the  great  yellow  sky,  and 
the  purple  and  amber  and  red  flushed  world  stretch 
ing  so  far  below.  A  little  clatter  at  the  bars  where 
the  posse  prepared  to  mount  and  ride  away  was  pro 
nounced  in  the  deep  evening  stillness  ;  the  cry  of  a 
homeward-bound  hawk  drifted  down  as  with  the  sun 
set  on  his  swift  wings  he  swept  above  the  abysses 
of  the  valley  ;  and  then  the  sheriff,  stepping  over  the 
lower  rail,  the  others  lying  on  the  ground,  paused 
suddenly,  his  hand  upon  the  fence,  his  face  lifted.  A 
strange  new  sound  was  on  the  air,  a  raucous  voice 
muttering  incoherently — muttering  a  few  w.ords,  then 
sinking  to  silence. 

Carew  looked  quickly  at  the  woman.  Her  face  had 
stiffened ;  it  hardly  seemed  alive ;  it  was  as  inani 
mate  as  a  mask,  some  doleful  caricature  of  humanity 
and  sorrow,  forlornly  unmoving,  with  no  trace  of 
beauty  or  intelligence  to  hallow  it ;  she  might  seem 
to  have  no  endowment  in  common  with  others  of  her 
kind,  save  the  capacity  to  suffer.  The  child's  face 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     311 

reflected  hers  as  in  a  mirror.  The  same  feeble,  piti 
able  affectation  of  surprise  was  on  each  when  the 
sheriff  exclaimed,  suddenly,  "What's  that?" 

The  men  outside  of  the  fence  paused  in  the  instant, 
as  if  a  sudden  petrifaction  had  fallen  upon  the  group 
— one  was  arrested  in  the  moment  of  tightening  a 
saddle-girth ;  another  was  poised  midway,  one  foot 
in  the  stirrup,  the  other  just  lifted  from  the  ground  ; 
two  or  three,  already  mounted,  sat  like  equestrian 
statues,  their  figures  in  high-relief  against  the  broad 
fields  of  the  western  sky  above  the  mountain-tops. 
Once  a  horse  bent  down  his  head  and  tossed  it  aloft 
and  pawed  the  ground  ;  and  again  the  silence  was 
unbroken,  till  there  arose  anew  that  strangely  keyed, 
incoherent  babbling.  There  was  an  abrupt  rush  in 
the  direction  whence  the  sound  came,  for  it  was  dis 
tinct  this  time.  The  forlorn  woman  and  girl  were 
soon  distanced,  as  they  followed  upon  the  strides  of 
the  stalwart  sheriff.  He  ran  fast  and  lightly,  with 
an  agility  which  his  wonted  pompous  strut  hardly 
promised.  He  was  at  the  barn  door  and  half-way 
up  the  ladder  leading  into  the  loft  before  his  slower 
comrades  could  cross  the  yard.  When  they  reached 
the  barn  the  woman  was  standing  in  the  space  be 
low  the  loft,  her  face  set,  her  eyes  restless  and  di 
lated  ;  her  self-control  gave  way  at  last  to  a  sudden 
trivial  irritation,  incongruous  with  the  despair  and 
grief  in  her  fixed  lineaments. 

"  Quit  taggin'  arter  me  !"  she  cried  out,  huskily,  to 
the  tattered  little  girl,  who,  in  tears  and  trembling 
with  wild  fright,  hung  upon  her  skirts. 

The  sheriff  at  the  head  of  the  ladder  seemed,  im 
possibly  enough,  to  be  tearing  down  the  wall  of  the 


312       IN  THE 

building.  He  had  a  hatchet  in  one  hand;  he  used 
the  handle  of  his  pistol  for  a  wedge,  and  presently 
the  men,  peering  up  into  the  dusky  shadow,  under 
stood  that  he  was  plucking  down  the  boards  of  a 
partition  that,  flimsy  as  it  was,  had  seemed  to  them 
the  outer  wall  when  they  had  searched  the  place. 
Within  was  a  space  only  two  feet  wide  perhaps,  but 
as  long  as  the  gable  end.  Upon  a  heap  of  straw  lay 
a  man,  wounded,  fevered,  wild  with  delirium.  He 
had  no  sense  of  danger ;  he  could  realize  no  calamity 
of  capture  ;  his  hot,  rolling,  bloodshot  eyes  conveyed 
no  correlative  impression  to  his  disordered  brain  of 
the  figures  he  beheld  before  him.  He  talked  on,  nn- 
noting  the  cluster  of  men  as  they  pressed  about  him 
in  the  dust  that  rose  from  the  riven  boards,  and 
gazed  down  wide-eyed  at  him.  The  only  light  came 
in  through  the  crevices  of  roof  and  wall,  but  these 
were  many.  It  served  amply  for  his  recognition,  if 
more  evidence  had  been  needed  than  the  fact  of  his 
home  and  the  careful  concealment,  and  it  showed 
the  attitudes  of  his  captors  as  they  looked  around 
the  thrice-searched  place — at  the  hay  that  they  had 
tossed  about,  the  piles  of  corn  they  had  rolled  down, 
the  odds  and  ends  of  plough  gear  and  broken  house 
hold  utensils  in  one  corner  that  they  had  ransacked. 
More  than  one  commented,  with  a  sort  of  extorted 
admiration,  upon  the  craft  that  had  so  nearly  foiled 
them.  The  triumphant  figure  of  the  sheriff  was  the 
focus  of  the  shadowy  group,  easily  differentiated  by 
his  air  of  arrogantly  pluming  himself  ;  one  might 
hardly  have  noticed  the  frowzy  shock  of  hair  and  the 
pale  face  of  the  little  girl  protruding  through  the 
aperture  in  the  floor,  for  she  had  climbed  the  ladder, 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     313 

and  with  a  decapitated  effect  gazed  around  from  the 
level  of  the  puncheons. 

It  was  a  forlorn  illustration  of  the  universal  affec 
tions  of  our  common  human  nature  that  this  appari 
tion  should  be  potent  to  annul  the  mists  of  a  waver 
ing  mind,  and  to  summon  right  reason  in  delirium. 
The  thick-tongtied,  inarticulate  muttering  ceased  for 
a  moment ;  a  dazed  smile  of  recognition  was  on  the 
unkempt,  bearded  face  of  the  wounded  man. 

"  Bet  on  Maggie  !"  he  said,  quite  plainly.  "  She 
kin  climb  like  a  cat.  She  kin  drive  a  nail  like  a 
man  !  Takes  a  heap  ter  git  ahead  o'  Maggie  !" 

And  then  his  head  began  to  loll  from  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  and  the  look  of  recognition  was  gone  from 
his  face.  He  was  now  and  again  lifting  his  hands  as 
if  in  argument  or  entreaty,  and  once  more  muttering 
with  a  thick,  inarticulate  tongue. 

The  sheriff  glanced  at  a  twisted  nail  in  his  hand, 
then  down  at  the  decapitated  Maggie. 

"  Did  you  holp  do  this  hyar  job  ?"  he  asked. 

The  child  hesitated ;  the  law  seemed  on  her  track. 
"  I  druv  the  top  nails,"  she  piped  out  at  last.  Then, 
with  a  whimper,  "  Mam  couldn't  climb  along  the 
beam  fur  head-swimmin',  so  I  clomb  the  beam  an 
druv  the  top  nails,"  she  concluded,  with  a  weak, 
quavering  whine. 

He  looked  down  with  a  tolerant  eye  at  the  unpre 
possessing  countenance.  "  Smart  gal !"  he  exclaimed, 
unexpectedly;  "a  mighty  smart  gal!  An'  a  good 
one  too,  I'll  be  bound  !  Ye  jes'  run  down  yander  ter 
the  house,  sissy,  an'  fix  the  bed  fur  yer  dad,  fur  we 
air  goin'  ter  fetch  him  down  right  now." 

She  stared  at  him  with  dumb  amazement  for  a  mo- 


314       IN  THE 

ment,  then  turning  her  little  body  about  with  agility, 
her  tousled  shock  of  hair  and  her  pallid  little  face 
vanished  from  the  opening  in  the  floor. 

The  appearance  there  of  an  armed  party  of  res 
cuers  could  hardly  have  been  more  unwelcome,  and 
the  sheriff  breathed  freely  when  she  was  at  last  gone. 

He  lifted  his  head  presently,  glancing  question- 
ingly  about  the  darkening  place,  for  the  irregular 
spaces  of  the  crevices  gave  now  only  a  dim  fragmen 
tary  glimmer.  He  turned,  as  if  with  a  sudden  thought, 
took  his  way  down  the  ladder  and  stood  in  the  door, 
slipping  the  pistol  into  his  pocket,  and  looking  out 
with  a  lowering,  disaffected  eye.  In  that  short  inter 
val  within  the  barn  all  the  world  had  changed ;  the  flar 
ing  sky  had  faded,  and  was  of  a  dull  gray  tint,  too 
pallid  to  furnish  relief  to  the  coming  of  the  stars, 
which  were  only  visible  here  and  there  in  a  vague 
scintillation,  colorless  too.  The  gloom  of  the  dark 
ling  mountains  oppressed  the  spirit,  something  so  im 
measurably  mournful  was  in  their  sombre,  silent, 
brooding  immensity.  The  indubitable  night  lay  on 
the  undistinguishable  valley  as  if  the  darkness  rose 
from  the  earth  rather  than  came  from  the  sky ;  only 
about  the  summits  the  day  seemed  to  tarry.  Many 
a  vibrant  note  was  tuning  in  the  woods ;  for  the  noc 
turnal  insects,  and  the  frogs  by  the  water-side,  and 
vague,  sibilant,  undiscriminated  sounds,  joined  in  a 
twanging,  melancholy  chorus  that  somehow  accented 
the  loneliness. 

"  Waal,  night  hev  overtook  us,"  the  sheriff  re 
marked  to  Felix  Guthrie,  who  had  joined  him  at  the 
door.  Then,  with  gathering  acerbity,  "  Tears  like 
ter  me  ef  Providence  lays  ez  much  work  on  a  man  ez 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     315 

I  hev  got  ter  do,  he  ought  ter  hev  daylight  enough 
left  him  ter  git  through  with  it,  or  else  hev  a  moon 
allowed  him  ter  work  by." 

G-uthrie  said  nothing,  but  stood  solemnly  watching 
the  darkening  face  of  the  landscape. 

"  We  air  roosted  up  hyar  fur  all  night,  Fee,"  Carew 
continued,  in  a  tone  that  was  a  querulous  demand  for 
sympathy.  "  We  could  sca'cely  make  out  ter  git  up 
that  thar  outdacious,  steep,  rocky  road  in  the  day 
time  ;  ef  we  war  ter  try  it  in  the  pitch-dark  with  a 
bed-ridden  prisoner,  the  whole  posse,  prisoner  an  'all, 
would  bodaciously  roll  over  the  rocks  into  some  o' 
them  gorges  ez  look  ter  be  deep  ez  hell !"  He 
paused  for  a  moment,  his  light  gray  eyes  narrowing. 
"  I  could  spare  the  posse  toler'ble  well,  but  I  could 
in  no  wise  git  along  'thout  the  prisoner."  A  secret 
twinkling  that  lighted  his  eyes  seemed  communicated 
in  some  sort  to  his  lips,  which  twitched  suddenly,  as 
if  suppressing  a  laugh. 

Fee  Guthrie's  face  wore  no  responsive  gleam.  He 
stood  gruffly  silent  for  a  time,  his  gaze  fixed  uncom- 
prehendingly  upon  the  sheriff.  "  Air  thar  ennything 
ter  hender  yer  stayin'  all  night  ?"  he  asked  at  last. 

The  officer  hesitated,  then  moved  nearer,  and  laid 
his  hand  confidentially  upon  his  companion's  shoulder, 
among  the  ends  of  his  flaunting,  tawny  curls. 

"  Fee,"  he  said,  lowering  his  voice,  and  with  a  very 
definite  accession  of  gravity  and  anxiety,  "  I  hev 
made  a  mistake — a  large-sized  one — about  the  build 
o7  that  man  Shattuck." 

Guthrie's  immobile,  unfriendly  face  changed  sud 
denly.  There  was  a  slight  quiver  upon  it,  which 
passed  in  an  instant,  leaving  it  softened  and  wistful 


316       IN   THE 

and  anxious.  He  knew  naught  of  the  officer's  suspi 
cions  touching  Shattuck ;  he  only  knew  that  this  man 
had  lingered  without  the  window  to  hear  Letitia  sing, 
while  he  waited  for  the  moon  to  rise  in  the  great 
rocky  gorge  of  the  river.  It  seemed  to  Guthrie  that 
the  very  suggestion  of  her  name  would  have  a  power 
over  him,  that  it  would  stir  him  if  he  were  dead,  if 
he  shared  the  long  death  in  which  the  Little  People 
lay  and  waited  for  their  summons  to  rise  again.  And 
somehow  the  thought  of  them,  silent,  motionless,  un 
disturbed  in  their  long,  long  abeyance,  brought  a 
qualm  of  remorse.  "  I  ought  not  ter  hev  gin  my 
cornsent  ter  open  one  of  thar  coffins,"  he  reflect 
ed,  his  lips  moving  unconsciously  with  the  unspoken 
words.  "  My  head  won't  rest  no  easier  in  the  grave 
fur  hevin'  stirred  Aw'w,  an'  jes'  fur  Shattuck's  cur'os- 
ity,  cf  the  truth  war  knowed ;  *  the  hist'ry  o'  the  ken- 
try  '  " — he  remembered  the  words  with  a  sneer — "  air 
nowhar."  "  This  hyar  Shattuck  air  a  mighty  takin' 
man,"  he  said  aloud,  suddenly.  The  sheriff  cocked 
his  head  with  keen  attention.  "  .Nowise  good-lookin', 
special,  but  saaft- spoken.  Folks  like  him  mighty 
well ;  he  pulls  the  wool  over  everybody's  eyes." 

He  again  remembered  his  threat  for  the  man  who 
should  come  between  him  and  Letitia ;  he  had  unwit 
tingly  spoken  it  to  Shattuck  himself,  but  it  was  well 
that  he  was  warned. 

"  Waal,  Fee,  I  ain't  wantin'  ter  arrest  him  too  sud- 
dint — unless  I  hed  more  grounds  for  suspicion  agin 
him ;  but  this  hyar  thing  is  murder,  man,  murder  f 
An'  'twon't  do  fur  ennybody  ez  hed  enny  part  in  sech 
ter  get  away.  He  sent  Stephen  Yates  on  a  fool  pre- 
tensified  yerrand  the  night  the  man  war  waylaid  an' 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.       317 

kilt,  an'  ye  seen  Steve  'mongst  the  gang  in  Crazy 
Zeb's  cell." 

"  How  d'ye  know  ez  the  gang  hed  ennything  ter 
do  with  that  job  ?  Mought  hev  been  other  folks," 
Guthrie  demanded,  the  cause  of  justice  urgently  con 
straining  him. 

"  Don't  know  it ;  that's  jes'  the  reason  I  oughter 
keep  an  eye,  a  sorter  watch,  on  Shattuck,  an'  not 
arrest  him  'thout  he  war  tryin'  ter  clear  the  kentry. 
I  ou<rhter  hev  lef  a  man  ter  look  arter  him." 

O 

Guthrie  said  nothing.  He  seemed  to  silently  re 
volve  this  view. 

"  Would  you-uns  ondertake  ter  keep  him  under 
watch  till  I  git  back  ter-morrow  ?"  Carew  moved  his 
hand  caressingly  on  Guthrie's  shoulder  amongst  his 
long,  wind-stirred  hair.  "  I  couldn't  git  down  the 
mountain  in  the  dark,  specially  lumbered  up  with 
that  man,  ez  'pears  ter  be  dyin' — ye  shoot  mighty 
straight,  Fee  ! — an'  I  'lowed  ye  be  'feared  o'  nuthin, 
an'  air  a  mighty  fine  rider,  an'  yer  horse  air  sure 
footed.  Ye  mought  walk  ef  ye  warn't  willin'  ter  try 
it  mounted.  Wouldn't  ye  obleege  me,  Fee  ?" 

Guthrie's  dark  eyes,  with  their  suggestions  of  im 
placability,  were  turned  reflectively  upon  him.  The 
dying  light  did  not  so  much  as  suggest  their  color, 
but  their  lustre  was  visible  in  the  dusk,  and  their  ex 
pression  was  unannulled. 

"  I  hain't  got  no  nose  fur  game,"  he  replied  at  last. 
"  Ye  can't  hunt  folks  down  with  me." 

The  sheriff's  hand  suddenly  weighed  heavily  on 
his  shoulder.  "  What  be  ye  a-talkin'  'bout,  boy  ?" 
he  said,  imperiously.  "  I  require  yer  assistance  in 
the  name  o'  the  law  !  I  war  jes'  a-perlitin'  aroun', 


318      IN    THE 

and  axin'  like  a  favior,  fur  the  name  o'  the  thing.  I 
hev  got  a  right  ter  yer  help." 

"  Make  yer  right  good  " — Felix  Guthrie  had  faced 
round,  his  indomitable  eye  bright  and  clear  in  the 
dusk,  where  all  else  was  blurred — "  ef  ye  kin.  Thar's 
no  law  ever  made  ez  kin  turn  me  inter  a  spy  ter  lead 
a  man  ter  the  gallus  or  shet  a  prison  door  on  him. 
Make  yer  right  good,  why  don't  ye  ?" 

.The  strong  vitality  of  the  sheriff's  self-confidence, 
the  belligerent  faith  in  his  own  prowess — an  essen 
tial  concomitant  of  his  physique  and  bold  spirit — 
tempted  him  sorely.  The  occasion  was  propitious, 
for  a  collision  on  such  a  scale  was  a  rare  opportunity 
to  his  bridled  pugnacity,  and  with  his  posse  at  his 
back  the  consequences  of  defeat  were  infinitely  re 
duced.  The  realization  that  Guthrie  defied  his  power, 
even  thus  supported,  cried  aloud  for  due  recognition, 
but  gentler  counsels  prevailed  in  that  stormy  half- 
second  while  his  broad  chest  heaved  and  his  eyes 
flashed.  His  prospects  as  a  candidate  hampered  him. 
Mutiny  in  the  forces  of  so  popular  a  man  as  he  af 
fected  to  be  was  an  incongruity  of  insistent  signifi 
cance  to  the  returns  of  the  midsummer  election. 

"  No,  no,  Fee ;  suit  yerse'f,"  he  said,  smothering 
his  feelings  with  a  very  pretty  show  of  geniality, 
which,  however  it  might  fail  to  impose  on  Guthrie, 
ostensibly  filled  the  breach.  "  I  ain't  a-goin'  ter  make 
my  right  good  by  requirin'  a  man  ter  resk  his  life 
'mongst  them  slippery  gorges  on  a  night  ez  dark  ez 
the  grave  itself.  Naw  ;  ef  ye  don't  want  ter  go,  ye 
don't  need  ter,  though  ye  mought  be  some  perliter- 
spoken  'bout'n  it.  Some  o'  the  t'others  mought  take 
a  notion  ter  volunteer,  even  though  they  ain't  so  well 


used  ter  the  mountings  ez  you-uns  be,  through  livin' 
up  on  the  side  o'  the  mounting ;  an'  that  horse  o' 
Cheever's  air  plumb  used  ter  sech  roads  through  trav- 
ellin'  on  'em  every  day  or  so.  But  jes'  ez  ye  choose 
— I  ain't  keerin'." 

lie  strode  forward  to  a  group  of  men  collected  in 
the  door-yard,  and,  standing  with  an  arm  about  the 
shoulders  of  two  of  them,  engaged  in  a  low-voiced 
colloquy.  The  subject  was  presumably  the  despatch 
ing  of  an  envoy  to  keep  Shattuck  under  surveillance, 
and,  with  his  reasons  for  the  keenest  interest  in  aught 
that  touched  this  stranger,  Guthrie  with  intent  eyes 
gazed  at  them.  Naught  could  be  divined  from  their 
inexpressive  attitudes  ;  their  low  tones  baffled  his 
hungry  ears.  The  excitements  of  the  day  had  in  a 
measure  withdrawn  his  mind  from  his  own  antago 
nisms  to  Shattuck,  his  fear  of  being  supplanted,  his 
sense  of  injury  because  of  the  silence  with  which 
Shattuck  had  received  his  confidence,  making  no  sign 
to  divulge  an  inimical  interest.  Shattuck  would, 
however,  soon  enough  be  dealt  with,  he  reflected. 
And  then  he  found,  in  a  sort  of  dull  surprise,  that 
he  could  take  no  pleasure  in  the  thought  of  the  ca 
lamities  impending  for  his  rival,  because,  he  reasoned, 
they  were  not  in  direct  retribution  for  his  own  wrongs. 

"  I'd  hev  liked  ter  hev  talked  ter  him  one  more 
time  fust,"  he  said,  mentally  revolving  words  bitterly 
eloquent  with  anger. 

Pleasure  ?  Nay,  he  deprecated  the  coming  events. 
"  Tawrn  C'rew  air  a  mighty  smart  man — in  his  own 
opinion,"  he  said,  still  scornfully  gazing  at  the 
friendly  pose  of  the  important  sheriff,  which  had  all 
the  values  of  the  infrequent  unbending  of  a  very  great 


320     IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

man.  "  He  oughter  know  ez  Shattuck  never  hed  no 
hand  in  sech  ez  murder  an'  thievery,  an' " — with  a 
sudden  after-thought — "  he  would  know  it,  too,  ef  he 
hed  ever  seen  him." 

There  was  a  sudden  strange  stir  at  his  heart.  He 
had  felt  it  once  before,  when  the  reproachful  praise 
of  shooting  too  straight  had  first  fallen  upon  his  ear. 
On  a  rude  litter  four  men  were  bearing  out  from  the 
barn  door  and  carrying  across  the  yard  the  recum 
bent  figure  of  Bob  Millroy,  looking  in  the  drear  light 
of  the  dusk  like  death  itself,  so  still  he  lay,  sugges 
tively  stark,  but  with  a  ceaseless  monotonous  mutter, 
as  if  he  had  conveyed  beyond  death  some  feeble  dis 
traught  capacity  of  speech.  The  uncomprehended 
words  had  a  weird  effect,  and  the  groups  of  men  grew 
silent  as  the  litter  was  borne  past.  The  sheriff  fol 
lowed  it  into  the  house,  where  with  his  own  hands 
he  kindled  a  fire  on  the  hearth,  that  forthwith  gave 
light  and  cheer,  and  converted  the  poor  place  from 
the  aspect  of  a  hovel  to  that  of  a  home  ;  he  recom 
mended  that  the  patient — for  thus  he  called  him, 
rather  than  the  prisoner — should  be  fed  with  chick 
en  broth,  and  suggested  that  as  all  the  poultry  had 
gone  to  roost,  Maggie  would  find  a  fat  young  pullet 
an  easy  capture.  He  saw  that  Millroy  was  comforta 
bly  ensconced  in  bed,  with  his  wounds  newly  dressed, 
at  which  process  Carew  presided  with  ex  cathedra  ut 
terances  and  a  dignity  bespeaking  the  experience  of  a 
medical  expert.  The  restless  head  soon  ceased  to  roll, 
the  thick  tongue  grew  silent,  and  the  prisoner  sank 
into  slumber  that  seemed  deep  and  restful. 

Maggie  had  deftly  seconded  the  officer's  efforts, 
and  was  as  helpful  as  a  woman.  But  the  wife  held 


321 

back,  sullen  and  suspicious,  speaking  only  when  she 
was  spoken  to,  and  moving  reluctantly  in  obedience 
to  a  direct  command.  More  than  once  she  fixed  a 
surly,  mutinous  gaze  upon  the  sheriff  ;  and  when  the 
babble  of  delirium  was  still  at  last,  and  the  room 
seemed  full  of  homely  comfort,  the  fire-light  flicker 
ing  on  wall  and  ceiling,  she  could  hold  her  peace  no 
longer. 

"  Ye  air  a  faithful  servant  of  the  devil,"  she  said. 
"  Look  ter  him  fur  yer  thanks — ye'll  git  none  from 
me.  I  know  ye  air  a-doin'  all  this  jes'  ter  git  Bob 
well  enough  ter  jail  or  hang  him.  He's  yer  sheep 
ter  lead  ter  slarter." 

"  Lavvdy  mighty,  Mis'  Millroy !"  exclaimed  the 
officer,  "what  air  ye  a-talkin'  'bout?  Ye  dun'no' 
whether  Bob  hev  done  ennything  ter  be  jailed  or 
hung  fur.  Ef  ye  do,  ye  know  more'n  I  do.  All  I 
know  is  that  Fee  Guthrie  reported  gittin'  in  a  fight 
with  a  gang  o'  fellers,  an'  he  shot  sev'ral  an'  the  res' 
run.  I  'lowed  I  had  better  look  'em  up  an'  see  what 
sorter  account  they  could  give  o'  tliarse'fs,  ez  thar 
hev  been  crimes  commit  in  the  county.  Naw'm ; 
ye  hev  got  ter  git  through  with  a  jury,  an'  a  pack  o' 
lawyers,  an'  a  deal  o'  palaver,  'fore  I  take  the  trouble 
ter  make  up  my  mind.  Law's  mighty  scientific  now 
adays.  Ye  hev  got  ter  prove  a  thing  on  a  man  'fore 
I'll  go  lookin'  inter  the  hemp  market.  An'  Bob 
hain't  proved  nuthin'  'ceptin'  that  Fee  Guthrie 
shoots  straight,  ez  he  hev  lied  the  name  o'  doin' 
from  a  boy." 

He  looked  anxiously  at  his  interlocutor,  whom  he 
had  more  bestirred  himself  to  disarm  than  if  she 
could  have  wielded  a  ballot  in  his  behalf.  She  gave 
21 


322     IN  THE   "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

no  overt  sign  of  being  placated,  but  there  was  some 
thing  in  her  face  which  reassured  him,  and  he  ob 
served  that  when  the  child  came  and  leaned  against 
her  knee,  she  did  not  irritably  repulse  her  as  hereto 
fore. 

"  She's  a  good  child,  Maggie  air,"  he  observed, 
contemplating  her,  remembering  the  little  creature's 
eager  help. 

The  child's  small  friendly  gray  eyes  were  fixed  in 
telligently  upon  him  as  he  sat  resting  a  moment  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  hearth;  the  flickering  fire 
light  showed  her  shock  of  tousled  red  hair  and 
threw  her  magnified  shadow  on  the  wall.  The  shut 
ters  of  the  low,  broad  window  stood  open  to  the  fresh 
balsamic  mountain  air,  revealing  the  myriads  of  scin 
tillating  stars  in  the  dark  moonless  concave  above 
the  western  ranges ;  the  greenish-white  clusters  of 
an  elder-blossom,  growing  close  outside  in  a  clump 
of  weeds,  looked  in-  and  nodded,  as  if  in  greeting 
to  those  within. 

"  An'  she's  a  mighty  smart  leetle  gal  too,"  he 
added. 

"  Yes,"  her  mother  drawled,  disparagingly,  "  but 
so  tumble  ugly.  I  hain't  never  tuk  no  comfort  in 
her.  But  Bob,  he  'lows  4he  kin  put  up  with  her 
looks  mighty  easy." 

"  Waal,  the  bes'-lookin'  gals  ain't  always  pritty 
whenst  little,"  said  the  sheriff,  optimistically. 

His  plastic  countenance  took  on  a  sudden  absorp 
tion  in  graver  matters,  and  he  arose  and  strode  to 
the  middle  of  the  room,  stooping  to  glance  out  of 
the  window,  as  if  to  exert  some  slight  surveillance 
upon  the  members  of  his  posse  without. 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      323 

The  door-yard  was  all  illumined.  A  fire  of  pine 
knots  and  hickory  logs  flared  in  its  midst.  Around 
it  were  grouped  the  figures  of  the  night-bound  posse, 
making  what  cheer  they  could  for  themselves. 
Spurred  and  booted  and  armed,  they  had  a  remi 
niscent  suggestion  for  the  sheriff,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  and  could  look  down  the  vistas  of  memory, 
where  many  a  bivouac  fire  was  still  ablaze.  The  fa 
miliar  features  of  the  place  seemed  now  and  again  to 
advance,  then  to  shrink  away  askance  amongst  the 
shadows,  as  the  yellow  and  red  flames  rose  and  fell 
with  a  genial  crackling  sound  pleasant  to  hear.  The 
rail  fence  showed  with  a  parallel  line  of  zigzag  shad 
ows  ;  the  ash-hopper,  the  beehives  all  awry,  the  hay 
stack,  were  distinct ;  and  the  roof  of  the  barn 
looked  over  them  all,  the  window -shutter  of  the 
loft  flaring  wide,  revealing  the  stores  of  bay  where 
on  the  visitors  were  to  sleep ;  through  the  open 
door  below  their  horses  were  visible,  some  stalled 
and  at  the  mangers,  but  one  or  two  lying  on  the 
straw.  Quite  outside  stood  another — a  sleek,  clay- 
bank  creature — so  still  that,  with  the  copperish  hue 
and  the  lustre  of  the  fire,  he  looked  like  some  gigan 
tic  bronze.  Around  all  the  dark  forest  gloomed. 
Sometimes  the  flames  were  tossed  so  high,  with  a 
flickering  radiance  so  bright,  that  the  outline  of  a 
mountain  would  show  against  that  dark,  cloudless, 
starlit  sky ;  and  once  were  discovered  mists  in  the 
valley — silent,  white,  secret,  swift — journeying  on 
their  unimagincd  ways  under  cover  of  the  ni^ht. 
The  fire-lit  figures  sprawling  about  the  logs  wore 
merry,  bearded  faces,  and  jests  and  stories  were 
afoot.  Amongst  the  men  were  certain  canine 


324   IN  THE  " STRANGER  PEOPLE 

shapes,  seeming  to  listen  and  to  share  the  mirth ;  a 
trifle  ill  at  ease,  they  now  and  again  made  a  sniffing 
circuit  of  the  guests,  wondering,  doubtless,  where 
poor  Bob  Millroy  was,  and  that  upon  them  alone 
should  devolve  the  entertainment  of  so  many  stran 
gers. 

The  sheriff  had  a  keen  eye ;  one  glance  at  the 
group  and  he  went  forward  to  the  window,  leaning 
his  palms  on  the  sill.  The  rank  weeds  below  glowed 
in  the  fire-light;  the  elder-bloom  breathed  dew  and 
fragrance  in  his  face.  He  gave  a  low  whistle,  which 
a  dog  heard  first,  and  turned  its  head,  its  ears 
cocked  alertly,  but  nevertheless  sat  still,  loath  to 
leave  the  merry  company.  A  second  summons  and 
one  of  the  men  sprang  up,  and  approached  the  win 
dow. 

"  Whar's  Felix  Guthrie  ?"  demanded  the  officer. 

The  fire-light  showed  a  surprised  glance  from  tin 
der  the  brim  of  his  interlocutor's  old  slouched  hat. 
"  Why,  I  thunk  ye  sent  him  on  some  yerrand.  He 
saddled  his  beastis  an'  put  out  long  ago  fur  down 
the  mounting.  An'  I  axed  him  ef  he  warn't  afeard  o' 
the  gorges.  An'  he  'lowed  he  war  'bleeged  ter  go." 

The  officer  in  his  turn  stared.  "  That's  all  right. 
I  didn't  know  whether  he  hed  gone,"'  he  said  at  last, 
with  an  airy  wave  of  the  hand.  He  turned  within, 
smiling.  "Fee  air  like  the  man  in  the  Bible  ez  say, 
'  I  go  not,'  an'  goes,"  he  muttered  to  himself,  in  tri 
umphant  satisfaction. 

The  sheriff  found  it  a  long  night.  The  voices 
gradually  dwindled  until  only  a  fragmentary,  low- 
toned  colloquy  could  be  heard  beside  the  fire  outside, 
so  had  the  number  of  renegades  to  the  loft  of  the 


IN  THE  ''STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.     325 

barn  increased ;  and  when  at  last  the  drowsy  con 
verse  was  hushed,  the  impetuous  flare  had  died  away  ; 
no  fluctuating  glimpses  of  the  landscape  embellished 
the  darkness ;  the  fire  had  sunk  to  a  mere  mass 
of  vermilion  embers  amidst  the  utter  gloom  which 
it  did  not  illumine.  A  wind  after  a  time  arose, 
and  hearing  it  astir  in  the  valley,  the  sheriff,  in 
his  frequent  stridings  to  and  fro  in  the  little  cabin, 
bethought  himself  of  the  menace  of  scattered  coals 
to  the  hay  and  straw,  and  now  and  again  looked 
out  of  the  window  to  see  how  the  gray  ash 
was  overlapping  this  smouldering  mass,  that  had 
spent  its  energies  in  those  wild,  upspringing,  tumul 
tuous  flames,  and  had  burned  out  to  the  ground. 
More  than  once  he  mended  the  fire  on  the  hearth 
stone  within,  merely  that  he  might  have  the  company 
of  the  flicker  on  the  wall ;  but  it,  too,  was  drowsy,  and 
often  sent  up  sluggish  columns  of  smoke  in  lieu  of 
blaze,  and  he  seemed  to  himself  the  only  creature 
alive  and  awake  in  all  the  spread  of  mountain  and 
valley.  He  had  contrived  to  keep  his  vigil  alone. 
He  had  given  a  special  promise  that  he  would  call 
the  prisoner's  wife  at  twelve  o'clock  to  watch  the 
latter  half  of  the  night.  By  no  means  reluctant,  ex 
hausted  with  the  excitements  of  the  evening  superim 
posed  upon  the  work  and  cares  of  the  day,  she  and 
Maggie  had  climbed  the  ladder  to  the  roof-room,  and 
had  left  the  officer  in  undisturbed  possession  below. 
After  a  while  he  lighted  a  tallow  dip,  and  surveyed 
the  haggard  face  of  the  patient,  as  he  still  chose 
euphemistically  to  call  the  prisoner.  The  feeble 
glimmer  illumined  the  room  in  pallid  and  melancholy 
guise,  instead  of  with  the  hilarity  and  glow  and  bright 


326      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

good-will  which  the  sulking  fire  had  shown  earlier  in 
the  evening.  A  great,  distorted  silhouette  of  his  own 
head  appeared  upon  the  wall,  leaning  ogreishly  over 
the  pillow.  He  noted  these  things  in  the  midnight. 
His  hand  on  the  round  knob  of  the  bedstead  seemed 
to  stealthily  grasp  a  club.  The  forlorn  face  of  the 
recumbent  man  added  its  significance  to  the  shadow. 
A  more  sinister  and  threatening  picture  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  imagine,  and  after  gazing  at  it  with  gruff 
disfavor,  Carew  shifted  his  position,  and  once  more 
looked  anxiously  at  the  haggard  face  on  the  pillow.  It 
bore  certain  tokens  which  in  his  ignorance  he  fancied 
were  characteristic  of  the  fades  hippocratica ;  from 
time  to  time,  as  he  lighted  the  candle  anew,  he  noted 
them  again,  and  his  own  face  seemed  to  reflect  them 
in  a  sort  of  dismay  and  terror.  Once,  as  he  struck  the 
candle  sharply  downward  to  extinguish  the  flame,  he 
apostrophized  the  patient  out  of  the  sudden  darkness : 

"  Ef  ye  don't  git  sensible  enough  ter  talk  sorter 
straight  afore  ye  take  off  from  hyar  fur  good  an'  all, 
I  dun'no'  how  in  kingdom  come  I  be  a-goin'  ter  find 
out  whar  it  war  ez  ye  hid  that  plunder — ef  ever  yo 
did  hide  it." 

He  walked  back  to  the  hearth,  where  the  gray 
smoke,  itself  barely  visible,  rose  in  a  strong,  steady 
column,  now  and  then  darting  out  a  tiny  scintillating 
tongue  of  white  flame  ;  he  threw  himself  again  into 
the  rickety  chair,  his  anxious  eyes  on  the  fire.  A 
black  cat,  crouched  upon  the  hearth,  commented  hos 
pitably  upon  his  proximity  by  a  loud  purring  as  she 
alternately  opened  and  shut  her  witch-like  yellow 
eyes.  She  recalled  to  his  mind  many  a  homely  fire 
side  fable  of  witchcraft  that  held  in  permanent  solu- 


COUNTRY.      327 

tion  the  terrors  of  his  childhood  which  the  wisdom 
of  later  years  might  vainly  strive  to  precipitate  and  re 
pudiate.  He  looked  at  her  askance  while  she  peace 
fully  slept,  and  the  wind  went  heavily  by  the  window 
as  with  the  tread  of  a  thousand  men.  He  himself 
was  never  so  consciously  vigilant.  It  seemed  as  if  he 
had  never  slept.  He  could  hardly  realize  the  fatigue, 
the  drowsiness,  with  which  he  had  struggled  in  the 
earlier  portion  of  the  night.  Not  a  stir  escaped  his 
attention  from  the  bed  where  the  wounded  man  lay, 
whether  in  the  soft  recuperation  of  slumber,  or  the 
heavy  stupors  that  so  nearly  simulate  death  itself,  his 
ignorance  could  not  determine.  Once,  as  the  flame 
flared  white  from  out  the  gray  smoke,  he  looked  to 
see  if  the  hands  were  plucking  at  the  coverlet,  a  sign 
familiar  to  him  of  the  approaching  doom.  And  then, 
as  the  dull,  dense,  unillumined  column  of  vapor 
streaming  up  the  chimney  benighted  the  room,  he 
heard,  with  his  keen  senses  all  tense,  the  howl  of  a 
wolf  on  a  far-away  summit. 

"  So  durned  onlucky  !"  a  thick  voice  said,  sudden 
ly,  as  it  were  in  his  ear. 

Carew  gave  a  galvanic  start  that  jarred  his  whole 
frame,  and  he  had  a  momentary  impression  that  he 
had  been  dreaming.  As  he  turned  his  head  he 
heard  the  wind  surging  in  the  infinite  leafage  of  the 
vast  mountain  wilderness.  But  within  all  was  still 
save  the  slowly  ascending  column  of  gray  smoke,  and 
all  was  silent — not  the  chirping  of  a  cricket,  not  the 
gnawing  of  a  mouse  —  till  abruptly,  from  out  the 
semi  -  obscurity  of  the  room,  the  thick,  unnatural 
voice  came  again,  came  from  the  pillow  where  the 
restless  head  was  rolling  once  more. 


328      IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY. 

The  sheriff  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief,  raucously 
cleared  his  throat,  and  stretched  out  his  stalwart, 
booted  legs  comfortably  upon  the  hearth.  Then  he 
once  more  turned  his  face  toward  the  bed,  for, 
whether  because  of  the  pervasive  quiet  or  the  ab 
sence  bf  other  distractions,  the  utterances  of  deli 
rium  that  had  hitherto  seemed  incoherent  and  mere 
mouthings  were  now  comprehensible-— the  words,  al 
though  but  half  formed  and  thickly  spoken,  having 
become  articulate. 

"  Durned  onlucky,"  the  voice  said,  over  and  over 
again,  with  falling  inflections  infinitely  disconsolate. 

A  smile  was  on  the  officer's  face.  In  the  absence 
of  other  entertainment,  these  queer  unauthorized  gy 
rations  of  the  powers  of  speech,  all  astir  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  brain,  promised  to  relieve  some 
what  the  tedium. 

"  Onlucky!  I  b'lieve  ye  !"  he  commented,  with  a 
laugh.  "  Onlucky  fur  true — fur  you  !" 

"  So  durned  onlucky,"  the  weird  voice  rose  louder. 

Then  it  fell  to  silence  which  was  so  long  continued 
that  the  officer  relapsed  into  a  reverie,  and  once  more 
eyed  the  veiled  fire. 

"  Dun'no'  nuthin'  'bout  them  Leetle  People,"  the 
voice  droned. 

Once  more  Tom  Carew  lifted  his  head  with  a  re 
newed  interest ;  he  felt  as  if  long  ago,  in  some  pre 
vious  state  of  existence,  he  had  heard  of  those 
strange  extinct  folk ;  and  then  he  recalled  their  more 
immediate  mention  —  for  the  first  time  that  he 
could  remember — at  the  blacksmith's  shop  to-day, 
and  their  connection  with  the  name  of  Shattuck. 
He  sat  with  a  half-scornful,  half-doubting  smile  upon 


IN  THE   "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      329 

his  face,  that  bespoke,  nevertheless,  an  intent  atten 
tion,  and  the  influence  of  the  fascination  which  the 
supernatural  exerts  ;  his  hands  were  in  his  pockets, 
his  hat  on  the  back  of  his  head,  his  long  legs  stretched  , 
out,  his  whole  relaxed  attitude  implying  a  burly  com 
fort. 

"  Buried  jes'  two  feet  deep  ;  shows  how  small  they 
actially  war,"  said  the  thick  voice,  "  them  Stranger 
People." 

The  face  of  the  sheriff,  revealed  in  one  of  the  lash 
ing  thongs  of  flame,  had  a  breathless  wonder  upon  it. 
"  Darned  ef  it  don't !"  he  muttered,  in  the  accents 
of  amazed  conviction.  And  again  he  lent  his  ear  to 
the  delirious  exclamations  as  the  fevered  brain  re 
traced  some  scene  present  once  more  to  its  distor 
tions. 

"  Naw,  Buck,  naw,"  Millroy  cried  out,  with  sudden 
vehemence.  "  'Twarn't  me  ez  told.  An'  Steve  Yates 
couldn't  hev  gin  the  word  ter  Shattuck.  Nobody 
knowed  but  ye  and  me.  Ye  oughtn't  ter  hev  shot 
at  Shattuck.  It  air  so  durned  onlucky  ter  shoot  nigh 
a  graveyard.  Ah  !  ah  !  ah-h  !"  The  voice  rose  sud 
denly  to  a  hoarse  scream,  and  he  tossed  uneasily 
from  side  to  side. 

The  sheriff  sat  motionless,  and  albeit  he  had  as 
sumed  the  functions  of  nurse  as  well  as  watcher, 
offered  no  assistance  or  alleviation  to  the  sufferer, 
but  with  a  puzzled  face  meditated  for  a  time  on  this 
unexpected  collocation  of  names ;  then  scratched  his 
head  with  an  air  of  final  and  perplexed  defeat  as  he 
listened  to  the  groans  of  the  wounded  man  gradually 
dying  away  to  silence. 

He  waited  expectantly,  but  naught  broke  the  still- 


330        IN    THE 

ness  save  the  wind  outside  in  the  immensity  of  the 
night  and  the  wilderness.  "  I  wish  ter  God  ye'd  talk 
sense,"  he  adjured  the  patient,  disconsolately. 

Then  he  fell  to  thoughtfully  eying  the  fire,  the 
simple  elements  of  his  interest  in  the  disconnected 
monologue  merged  into  anxiety  and  perplexity  and 
baffled  speculation.  The  veiled  flame  still  tended 
sluggishly  upward ;  he  heard  the  sobbing  of  the  sap 
oozing  out  at  the  ends  of  the  logs.  "  This  wood  is 
mighty  green,"  he  observed,  disparagingly,  "  an'  post 
oak,  too,  I  b'lieve.  'Tain't  fitten  ter  make  a  fire  out'n." 

A  vague  stir  was  on  the  roof — pattering  drops  ; 
slow,  discontinued  presently,  and  discursively  falling 
again.  The  little  cabin  was  on  the  very  verge  of  a 
rain  cloud.  In  the  valley  the  rhythmic  beat  of  the 
downfall  upon  the  tree-tops  came  muffled  to  his  ears, 
and  he  noted  the  intermittent  sound  of  the  wind  dying 
away  and  rising  fitfully  and  farther  off.  All  at  once 
his  attention  was  deflected  from  the  outer  world. 

"  The  Leetle  People  revealed  the  secret,  Buck. 
Lay  it  at  thar  door,"  cried  the  weird  voice  of  de 
lirium. 

Carew  drew  his  sprawling  members  into  a  tense 
attitude,  a  hand  on  either  knee,  his  head  thrust  for 
ward,  his  eyes  distended,  staring  into  the  gloom,  his 
lower  jaw  falling. 

"  Thar  warn't  room  enough  fur  the  bones  an'  the 
jug  an'  the  plunder  too.  An'  that  thar  one  o'  the 
Leetle  People's  harnts  hev  sot  out  ter  walk,  ez  sure 
ez  ye  air  born — no  room  sca'cely  bein'  lef  in  his 
grave.  So  durned  onlucky  ter  meddle  with  the 
Leetle  People's  graves !  So  durned  onlucky,  to  be 
sure  !" 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      331 

The  officer  sat  as  if  turned  to  stone,  breathless, 
motionless,  staring  fixedly  into  the  dusky  room,  and 
seeing  nothing  that  was  before  him — only  the  goal 
which  he  had  sought — while  the  fevered  head  still 
rolled  back  and  forth  on  the  pillow,  the  delirious 
voice  repeating,  with  every  inflection  of  dull  despair  : 
"  So  durned  onlucky  !  So  onlucky,  to  be  sure  !" 

How  long  the  sheriff  sat  there,  unconsciously  striv 
ing  to  realize  the  situation,  the  significance  of  this 
strange  discovery,  he  did  not  know.  It  was  with  a 
distinct  effort  of  the  mind  at  last  that  he  sought  to 
pull  himself  together  and  turn  to  the  consequent 
step.  He  felt  as  if  he  were  dreaming  even  after  he 
was  on  his  feet,  and  he  paused  irresolutely  in  the 
middle  of  the  floor,  and  looked  expectantly  toward  the 
bed,  where  the  wounded  man's  head  still  restlessly 
rolled  as  he  muttered :  "  So  durned  onlucky  !  So 
onlucky,  to  be  sure !"  But  if  Bob  Millroy  should 
talk  all  night  he  could  add  naught  of  importance  to 
what  the  sheriff  already  knew. 

"  No  use  a-listening  ter  him  jabber  now,"  he  said. 

A  sudden  look  of  thought  smote  his  face  ;  his  eyes 
narrowed,  his  teeth  closed  firmly,  as  he  revolved  the 
idea  in  his  mind,  and  he  turned  abruptly  to  the  win 
dow.  The  blasts  had  closed  the  batten  shutter  fast, 
and  he  shook  it  smartly  before  it  would  open  in  his 
hand.  The  slow  wheeling  of  its  edges  against  the 
sky  revealed  a  change  since  last  he  had  looked  out. 
The  stars  still  scintillated  above  in  the  clear  spaces 
of  the  zenith,  but  a  rain-cloud  hung  in  the  south, 
bulging  low  over  the  ranges,  its  blackness  differing 
vastly  in  tone  from  the  limpid  darkness  where  the 
night  was  clear  and  serene.  One  summit  below  it  was 


332         IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

distinctly  defined ;  there  it  had  betaken  a  dusky 
brown  color,  and  about  its  lower  verge  a  fringe  of 
fine  straight  lines  of  rain  was  suggested ;  a  moon 
— a  belated,  waning  moon — was  rising  in  the  mel 
ancholy  dead  hour  of  the  night,  its  distorted,  mist- 
barred  disk  showing  between  the  bare  eastern  peaks, 
which  were  all  silvered  and  clearly  outlined  above  the 
massive  wooded  slopes  darkling  below.  It  shone  full 
in  the  officer's  eyes  as  for  a  moment  he  steadfastly 
gazed  upon  it.  Then  he  laid  his  hand  upon  the  win 
dow-sill  and  lightly  sprang  upon  the  ground  below. 
The  next  moment  he  was  standing  in  the  door  of  the 
barn,  and  his  stentorian  halloo  had  roused  all  the  slum 
bering  mountaineers  amongst  the  hay,  and  hailed  the 
echoes  in  many  a  rocky  gorge  far  away. 


XVI. 

IN  the  deep  obscurity  of  those  dark  hours  before 
the  moonrisc,  in  the  effaeement  of  all  the  visible  ex 
pressions  of  material  nature,  save  the  glitter  of  the 
stars  and  the  glooming  of  the  shadows,  Felix  Guthrie 
had  been  alone,  as  it  were,  with  his  own  soul.  He 
had  never  known,  native  of  the  wilderness  though  he 
was,  so  intense  a  sense  of  solitude.  It  was  as  if  his 
spirit  had  gone  forth  from  the  familiar  world  into 
the  vast  voids  of  the  uncreate.  He  took  no  heed  of 
the  dangerous  way  down  the  steeps,  but  gave  the 
horse  the  rein,  and  trusted  to  the  keener  nocturnal 
sight  of  the  animal.  His  dog  ran  on  ahead  pioneer- 
wise,  retracing  his  way  from  time  to  time  and  gam 
bolling  about  his  master's  stirrup  irons,  his  presence 
only  made  known  by  a  vague  panting  which  Guthrie 
neither  heard  nor  heeded.  Even  to  the  voice  of  the 
mountain  torrent  he  was  oblivious,  although  it  seemed 
louder  far  by  night  than  by  day,  assertive,  unafraid, 
congener  of  the  solitude,  the  darkness,  and  the  mel 
ancholy  isolations  of  the  mountain  woods.  The 
rhododendron  blooming  all  unseen  by  the  way  touched 
his  cheek  with  a  soft  petal  and  a  freshness  of  dew; 
now  and  again  a  brier  clutched  at  his  sleeve ;  some 
times  a  stone  rolled  beneath  his  horse's  hoofs,  and 
fell  into  the  abyss  at  the  sicle  of  the  road,  sonorously 
echoing  and  echoing  as  it  smote  upon  the  rocky 


334        IN    THE 

walls  of  the  chasm,  the  decisive  final  thud  so  long 
delayed  that  to  judge  thus  of  the  unseen  depths  which 
lurked  at  either  hand  might  have  daunted  him  had 
he  listened.  The  horse  would  hesitate  at  times,  and 
send  forth  a  whinnying  plaint  of  doubt  or  fear  when 
the  rushing  torrent  crossed  the  way,  plunging  in  pres 
ently,  however,  and,  if  need  were,  swimming  gallant 
ly,  with  the  swimming  dog  in  his  wake. 

Guthrie's  thoughts  made  all  the  way  heavy  ;  deeper 
than  the  glooms  of  the  night  they  shadowed  his  spirit. 

"  Though  she  may  sing  an'  he  may  listen,  I  ain't 
a-goin'  ter  spy  him  out  fur  no  sher'if  ez  ever  rid  with 
spurs.  I  ain't  a-goin*  ter  hound  him  an'  track  him, 
fur  I  ain't  no  dog ;  though  I  ain't  got  nuthin'  agin 
dogs,  nuther.  But " — with  a  hardening  of  the  face 
— "  I'll  hold  him  ter  account  ter  me.  I'll  bring  him 
ter  jedgment.  Ha'll  'low  the  law  o'  the  Ian'  hev  got 
a  toler'ble  feeble  grip  compared  with  the  way  I'll 
take  holt  o'  him.  He  war  warned.  I  told  him  ez  I 
hed  it  in  my  heart  ter  kill  the  man  ez  kem  atwixt 
Litt  an'  me." 

When  he  reached  the  levels  of  the  cove  the  springy 
turf  served  to  add  speed  to  the  smooth,  swinging, 
steady  pace.  He  had  hardly  expected  so  soon  to  see 
before  him  the  steep  gables  of  the  old  Rhodes  home 
stead.  These  were  cut  sharply  against  the  sky,  for 
the  house  stood  in  the  midst  of  its  open  fields. 
One  or  two  sycamore-trees  swayed  above  its  roof,  and 
great  overgrown  bushes — lilac  and  snowball  and  roses 
— crowded  the  yard.  A  garden,  overgrown  too,  ex 
tended  down  the  slope  at  the  side,  and  here  as  well 
were  masses  of  shrubs  blackly  visible  in  contrast  with 
the  open  spaces. 


IN  THE   "  STRANGER    PEOPLED  "   COUNTRY.       335 

Guthrie  was  a  stranger  here.  He  had  never  before 
seen  so  great  a  house  as  the  rambling  old  brick 
dwelling.  When  he  had  dismounted  at  the  fence  he 
was  for  a  moment  at  a  loss  how  to  enter.  A  porch 
was  at  the  front  and  another  at  the  side,  and  while 
he  hesitated  a  vague  glimmer  of  yellow  light  came 
through  the  masses  of  the  foliage  that  clustered 
about  one  of  the  windows.  He  opened  the  gate ; 
his  foot  fell  noiselessly  upon  the  weed-grown  path. 
A  great  white  lily  was  waving  in  the  gloom  close  by 
— he  saw  it  glimmer — another,  and  another;  and  as 
the  file  stood  close  in  the  border,  the  heavy  rich  per 
fume  seemed  to  make  the  air  dense.  The  window 
glared  forth  suddenly — the  light  in  every  tiny  pane 
— when  he  had  passed  a  great  arbor-vitae  that  stood 
near  it,  trailing  its  branches  on  the  ground.  Within, 
unconscious,  at  ease,  unprescient,  a  man  sat  by  a 
lamp,  a  book  in  his  hand,  his  chair  tilted  back,  a  pipe 
between  his  teeth.  Save  the  light,  vaporous  curling 
of  the  smoke  above  his  head,  there  was  no  motion. 
The  fire  dwindled  in  the  chimney-place  ;  the  clock 
had  stopped  as  if  it  fell  a-drowsing  on  the  midnight 
hour.  The  wind  had  ceased  even  its  vague  stir,  and 
the  vines  that  hung  about  the  window  were  still. 
Guthrie  stood  for  a  moment  as  if  the  inertia  of  the 
scene  had  fallen  upon  him,  staring  at  the  face  that 
he  had  learned  to  know  rather  in  meditating  upon  it 
in  its  absence  than  in  the  study  of  its  traits.  It  was 
softer  than  he  had  thought,  younger ;  but  he  recog 
nized  anew,  with  an  infinite  change  of  sentiment, 
that  indefinable  quality  of  expression,  to  which 
glance,  contour,  pose,  all  contributed,  which  made 
it  so  likable.  And  if  this  had  been  patent  to  him, 


336   IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE' 

Avhy  not  to  others — to  Letitia  ?  A  new  standpoint 
had  wrought  a  radical  difference.  The  vague  fasci 
nation  that  had  once  commended  Shattuck  kindled 
Guthrie's  hatred  now.  His  eyes  glowed  like  a  pan 
ther's  from  out  of  the  darkness,  and  when  Shattuck 
abruptly  put  up  his  hand  with  the  quick,  decisive 
motion  of  keen  interest  and  turned  a  page  of  the 
volume,  it  broke  the  lethargic  spell  that  seemed  to 
have  fallen  upon  the  mountaineer.  Guthrie  moved 
up  suddenly  close  to  the  window,  his  very  touch 
upon  the  pane.  There  was  an  imperious  look  upon 
his  face.  It  seemed  to  hail  the  unconscious  reader 
within,  who  with  his  quick  deft  gesture  presently 
turned  another  leaf.  Guthrie  could  see  his  intent 
eyes,  full  of  light,  shifting  from  side  to  side  of  the 
page  as  they  scanned  the  lines.  He  made  no  effort 
to  attract  Shattuck's  attention  beyond  that  long 
steady,  glowering  look,  albeit  he  wondered  that  its 
effect  should  be  so  belated.  He  had  noted  often 
that  strange  mesmeric  influence  of  the  eye ;  a  wild 
beast  in  the  woods  would  not  remain  oblivious  of  the 
presence  of  his  natural  enemy  were  a  human  being's 
gaze  steadily  fixed  for  some  space  upon  him.  Shat 
tuck  suddenly  put  up  his  hand  with  a  vaguely  im 
patient  air  of  interruption,  and  passed  it  over  his 
cheek ;  then  he  rose  abruptly  to  his  feet,  crossed  the 
hearth  with  his  quick,  sure  step,  and  reached  up  to 
the  high  mantel-piece,  dusky  in  the  shadow.  There 
was  a  sharp  metallic  click  outside  amongst  the  honey 
suckle  vines-^Guthrie  had  cocked  his  pistol. 

But  it  was  no  weapon  which  Shattuck  had  grasped 
from  the  mantel-piece.  His  train  of  thought  was  evi 
dently  still  unbroken,  for  he  came  slowly  back  into 


IN    THE    "STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         337 

the  circumference  of  the  light  of  the  lamp,  as  it  stood 
on  the  table,  turning  in  his  careful  deft  hands  a  cu 
riously  decorated  jar.  Then,  still  standing,  with  the 
other  hand  he  whirled  over  the  leaves  of  the  book, 
and  seemed  to  compare  the  jar  which  he  held  to  an 
engraving  upon  the  page.  That  serene  light  of  a 
purely  intellectual  pleasure  was  upon  his  face,  and  its 
peculiar  charm,  its  alertness,  its  mobility,  its  sympa 
thetic  intimations,  its  clear  candor,  its^  courage,  had 
never  been  more  individual,  more  marked.  The  man 
outside,  with  his  pistol  cocked  in  his  hand,  keenly 
alive  to  all  impressions  that  mutually  concerned  them, 
sought  to  see  him  as  once  he  had  seemed.  Jealousy 
had  tampered  with  Outline's  vision,  and  he  could  no 
longer  read  these  patent  characters  ;  they  were  like  a 
language  that  one  has  half  forgotten — a  vague  sug 
gestion  here  and  there,  a  broken  association,  a  dull 
misconception.  The  next  moment  their  eyes  met. 

For  one  instant  the  sudden  sight  of  that  white 
cheek  pressed  close  to  the  glass  drove  the  blood  from 
Shattuck's  face.  He  stood,  the  jar  still  in  his  hand, 
his  head  bent  down,  his  questioning,  searching  eye 
intent.  Then,  still  without  recognizing  the  features 
of  the  man  outside,  he  placed  the  jar  on  the  table, 
and  walked  slowly  to  the  window,  unarmed  as  he  was. 
He  laid  both  hands  on  the  sash  to  lift  it;  it  was 
thrown  creakingly  up,  and  the  light  fell  full  on  the 
face  without,  its  square  contour,  its  austere,  sullen 
expression,  its  long  yellow  ringlets,  all  framed  by  the 
big  brim  of  the  broad  hat  thrust  far  back. 

"  Is  that  you,  Fee  ?"  Shattuck  said,  in  surprise. 
"  You  nearly  scared  me  to  death.     Why  don't  you 
come  in?" 
22 


338        IN    THE 

His  tone  was  untroubled  and  casual.  It  implied  a 
conscience  void  of  offence. 

"  He  thinks  I  hain't  fund  him  out,"  Guthrie  com 
mented  to  himself.  Aloud  he  replied,  grimly : 
"  'Tain't  wuth  while  ter  kem  in.  I  kin  say  what  I 
hev  got  ter  say  right  hyar." 

Shattuck,  all  unnoting  the  pistol  in  his  interlocu 
tor's  hand,  sat  down  upon  the  window-sill,  leaning 
almost  against  its  muzzle.  He  held  one  of  the  cables 
of  the  many-stranded  honeysuckle  vine  in  his  hand, 
by  way  of  assisting  his  equilibrium,  as  he  looked 
down  at  his  guest.  There  was  no  more  serious 
thought  in  his  mind  at  the  moment  than  the  wish 
that  he  could  paint,  or  even  sketch.  It  seemed  a  pity 
that  so  massive  and  impressive  an  embodiment  of  the 
idea  of  manhood,  of  force,  as  that  which  Felix  Guthrie's 
face  and  figure  presented  should  be  known  only  to 
his  few  and  unappreciative  neighbors  as  a  "tarrifyin' 
critter,  full  o'  grudges,  who  shot  mighty  straight." 

Guthrie  was  a  trifle  thrown  off  his  balance  by  this 
serene  unconsciousness.  He  hesitated,  expecting 
that  Shattuck  would  ask  him  what  had  brought  him 
hither,  unaware  that  the  etiquette  in  which  the  towns 
man  was  reared  forbade  him  to  inquire  or  to  mani 
fest  curiosity  concerning  the  mission  of  even  an  un 
timely  visitor.  As  Guthrie  said  nothing,  Shattuck 
essayed  to  break  the  pause. 

"See  my  prehistoric  jug?"  he  smilingly  asked, 
pointing  with  the  stem  of  his  empty  pipe  toward  the 
quaint  jar  upon  the  table.  "  I  dug  that  out  of  Mr. 
Rhodes's  mound.  It's  mightily  like  the  cut  of  a 
Malay  water-cooler  I  came  across  in  that  book  on  the 
table — surprisingly. ' ' 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"   COUNTRY.      339 

Before  the  unsuspicious  suavity  of  his  face  and 
manner  Guthrie  felt  a  vague  faltering,  such  as  no 
ferocity  or  danger  could  have  induced.  So  conscious 
of  this  was  he  that  he  sought,  with  a  sort  of  indig 
nant  protest,  to  throw  it  off.  He  seized  upon  the 
first  pretext  to  express  his  enmity,  albeit  his  judg 
ment  failed  to  approve  it.  He  felt  it  all  inadequate 
to  the  passion  which  shook  him,  and  far  from  what 
he  had  intended  to  say. 

"  Content  yerse'f  with  that,"  he  exclaimed ;  "  fur 
ye  shall  hev  nuthin'  from  the  Leetle  People.  They 
hey  tuk  up  thar  rest  on  my  Ian',  an'  thar  shell  they 
sleep  in  peace  till  the  last  trump  sounds." 

The  hand  that  trifled  with  the  heavily  twisted  vine 
was  still  for  a  moment,  and  Shattuck  looked  down 
seriously  into  Guthrie's  eyes — seriously,  but  without 
anger. 

"  It  shall  be  just  as  you  say,"  he  replied.  "  I  don't 
wonder  you  feel  strongly  about  it.  At  first  I  was 
furious  at  being  shot  at  in  a  way  that  I  can't  resent, 
by  a  woman  " — his  eyes  flashed,  and  his  lips  trembled 
— "  and  I  declared  I  would  try  it  again.  But  after 
ward  I  felt  we  were  fortunate  indeed  that  no  one  was 
killed  except  the  colt.  It  might  have  been  your 
brother  or  Mr.  Rhodes  as  well  as  myself.  You  see  ?" 
He  turned  his  head  toward  the  light.  Where  the 
hair  had  been  clipped  to  the  skin  a  red  line  showed 
that  the  rifle  ball  had  grazed  the  flesh,  "  Pretty  good 
aim  in  the  twilight.  And  perhaps  since  there  is  so 
strong  a  feeling  against  disturbing  the  *  pygmies,'  so 
called" — his  second  nature  of  scientific  exactitude 
unconsciously  qualified  the  phrase — "  I  ought  to  let 
them  alone.  Still,  I  am  sorry  about  the  little  colt ; 


340    IN  THE  " STRANGER  PEOPLE' 

and  as  the  disaster  happened  in  my  errand,  I  should 
like  to  offer  some  indemnity."  He  made  a  motion 
toward  his  pocket. 

"  I  hev  a  mind  ter  take  ye  by  the  nape  o'  yer  neck 
an'  break  it  across  the  winder-sill !"  cried  Guthrie,  his 
eyes  blazing.  "  Ye  think  I  keer  'bout  the  wuth  o' 
the  leetle  critter !"  He  snapped  his  fingers  scorn 
fully  in  the  air,  holding  his  arm  aloft  with  a  fine  free 
gesture.  "  I  be  sorry  he  is  dead,  'kase  he  hev  got  no 
hereafter,  an'  he  war  a  frisky  beastis,  an'  loved  ter 
live,  an'  we-uns  will  miss  seem'  him  so  gayly  prancin' 
in  the  pastur'.  Ye  think  I  kem  hyar  ter  git  a  leetle 
pay  fur  him  ?"  He  would  not  wait  for  Shattuck's 
protest  that  both  eyes  and  gesture  preluded.  "  Naw !" 
he  thundered.  "  I  kern  hyar  ter-night  ter  take  yer 
life  " — for  the  first  time  Shattuck  marked  the  bur 
nished  glimmer  on  the  barrel  of  the  pistol  that  he 
held  in  his  hand  —  "an'  ter  do  what  I  hev  never 
demeaned  myself  ter  do  afore — ter  take  back  my 
promise." 

"  What  promise  ?"  Shattuck  interjected. 

"  Ah,  ye  know !  Ye  know  full  well !"  Guthrie 
shook  his  head,  and  in  his  voice  was  a  quaver  of 
poignant  reproach.  "The  promise  ye  got  by  talkin' 
round  me,  'kase  ye  'lowed  I  war  a  ignorant  cuss,  and 
not  able  ter  see  through  yer  deceit  with  all  yer  school 
1'arnin' — by  praisin'  her  looks,  an'  tellin'  me  ter  keep 
up  my  courage,  an'  how  I  mought  make  out  ter  git 
her  ter  marry  me,  arter  all.  'Twon't  make  no  dif 
ference  takin'  back  the  promise,  fur  I  mean  ter  take 
yer  life  with  it.  Ye  surely  remember  the  word  I 
said  ter  you-uns,  ez  'twar  in  my  heart  ter  kill  the  man 
ez  kem  betwixt  me  an'  Litt ;  an',  by  God  !  it  is." 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      341 

A  sudden  comprehension  was  dawning  in  Shat- 
tuck's  eyes.  He  leaned  forward,  and  laid  his  hand 
on  Guthrie's  shoulder.  "  Now  go  slow,  Fee,"  he  said, 
soothingly.  "  Who  is  this  man  ?  Not  /,  and  this  I 
swear !" 

The  imperious  face,  its  pallor  distinct  in  the  lamp 
light  falling  upon  it  from  within,  the  rest  of  the  figure 
shadowy  in  the  black  darkness  without,  looked  up 
at  him  with  a  scathing  contempt  wrought  in  every 
feature. 

"  An'  so  I  swear  that  I'd  be  justified  ef  I  war  ter 
put  a  bullet  through  yer  heart,  an'  let  yer  soul  go 
down  ter  hell  with  that  word  ter  damn  ye  ter  all 
eternity !" 

Shattuck  withdrew  his  hand,  frowning  heavily. 
"  Look  here,  my  fine  fellow,  this  is  strong  language. 
If  I  didn't  believe  you  are  under  some  strange  mis 
take,  I'd  make  you  eat  your  words  syllable  by  syl 
lable.  What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  But  I  don't  want  ter  murder  ye,"  Guthrie  went 
on,  as  if  Shattuck  had  not  spoken.  "  I  can't  shoot 
ye  down  without  a  weepon  in  yer  han',  like  Mis' 
Yates  tried  ter  do,  though  ye  richly  desarve  it.  Git 
yer  shootin'-iron  an'  come  out — come  out  an'  stan'  up 
fur  yerse'f."  He  waved  his  hand  with  the  pistol  in 
it  toward  the  more  open  space  beyond  the  shrubbery. 
"  Come  out,  or  I'll  shoot  ye  ez  ye  set  thar." 

"  Not  one  step  will  I  stir  until  you  tell  me  why  you 
say  that  I  have  come  between  you  and  Letitia." 

"  Bekase  she  told  me  so." 

Shattuck's  unconscious  reliance  upon  his  mental 
supremacy,  his  equipment  of  delicate  tact,  his  as 
surance  of  a  pleasing  personality,  which  was  half  his 


342 

courage,  began  to  give  way.  He  had  yet  that  physi 
cal  self-respect  which  would  enable  him  to  meet  his 
enemy  without  a  pusillanimous  shrinking,  but  he 
no  longer  hoped  to  command  the  adroitness  to  evade 
the  event.  Still  he  strove  to  be  calm. 

"  Impossible !  Now,  what  did  she  say  ?"  he  de 
manded,  in  a  reasonable  voice.  Somehow,  he  had  the 
key  to  Guthrie's  confidence.  Even  now  it  opened  to 
him. 

"  Oh  !"  he  exclaimed,  in  a  voice  of  despair,  throw 
ing  up  the  arm  that  still  grasped  the  weapon,  "  I 
knowed  it  ez  much  from  what  she  didn't  say  ez  what 
she  did.  I  seen  it  in  her  face.  I  hcarn  it  in  her  voice. 
I  ain't  blind  !  I  ain't  deef  !  An'  then  " — every  line 
in  his  face  hardened — "  she  tole  me  how  ye  kein  an' 
stood  outside  the  winder  ter  listen  whilst  she  sung, 
an'  seem'  yer  face  suddint,  lookin'  in  through  the  bat 
ten  shutter,  she  didn't  know  ye  a-f ust — not  till  arter- 
ward,  whenst  hearin'  yer  pickaxe  in  the  Leetle  Peo 
ple's  graveyard,  did  she  know  'twar  you-uns.  An'  ye 
war  waitin'  fur  the  moon  ter  rise.  An',  damn  ye ! 
what  d'ye  want  ter  hear  her  sing  fur  2" 

Shattuck's  face,  with  a  startled  astonishment 
upon  it,  had  grown  more  deeply  grave.  Every  inti 
mation  of  anger  had  fallen  from  his  manner.  "  Guth- 
rie,"  he  said,  in  a  tone  so  coercive,  so  serious,  that 
the  other  looked  up,  newly  intent,  "  is  there  no  way 
to  convince  you  ?  I  never  heard  her  sing.  I  never 
was  in  the  pygmy  burying-ground  but  that  one  time 
with  your  brother.  Now,  think !  Is  there  no  one 
else  who  might  loiter  about  that  house ;  who  might 
venture — I  should  never  take  such  a  liberty — to  look 
through  the  crevices  of  a  closed  window  ?" 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        343 

Perhaps  it  was  Shattuck's  influence  over  Guthrie ; 
perhaps  the  anxiety  of  a  lover  to  believe  his  despair 
unfounded,  to  hope  against  hope — at  all  events,  his 
long  reflective  pause  indicated  a  change  of  mental 
attitude. 

"  Mrs.  Yates's  husband,"  suggested  Shattuck,  ply 
ing  his  advantage;  "has  nothing  been  heard  about 
him  lately  ?" 

"  Lord,  yes !"  exclaimed  Guthrie,  his  mind  revert 
ing  to  the  sensation  of  the  day.  "  I  seen  him  myself 
yestiddy  'mongst  a  gang  o'  horse-thieves  a-hidin'  out 
in  the  woods.  I  hed  ter  run  fur  my  life,  ez  they  set 
on  me,  six  ter  one.  An'  the  sher'ff  overhauled  thar 
den  jes  ter-day." 

His  voice  faltered  a  trifle.  He  looked  shamefaced 
and  downcast.  The  sheriff's  suspicion  concerning 
Shattuck  had  recurred  to  him,  and  he  could  not  meet 
the  man's  eyes  with  this  thought  in  his  mind. 

"  Now,  don't  you  see,  Fee,"  argued  Shattuck,  "  how 
likely  a  thing  it  is  that  Steve  Yates  should  hang 
around  his  own  cabin,  and  peer  through  the  window 
to  take  a  look  at  his  own  wife  and  child,  whom  he 
probably  will  never  see  again,  unless  in  some  such 
way  ?" 

Guthrie  nodded,  more  than  half  convinced.  Still, 
with  his  hidden  consciousness  of  that  insult  to  Shat 
tuck  which  he  carried  in  his  recollection  of  the  sher 
iff's  menace,  of  the  mission  of  espionage  which  he 
had  refused,  he  could  not  look  up. 

In  some  subtle  way  he  knew  that  when  Shattuck 
next  spoke  it  was  not  to  him  alone  that  he  addressed 
the  information,  but  that  the  fact  might  be  made 
manifest. 


344        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

"  Now  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  reason  why  I  do 
not  stand  between  you  and  Letitia."  At  the  name 
Guthrie  lifted  a  listening  face.  "  I  am  engaged  to 
be  married  to  a  lady  in  my  own  city.  So  Letitia  may 
sing  like  an  oread  and  look  like  a  flower,  but  she  is 
nothing  to  me." 

He  said  the  words  with  a  clear  conscience,  for  if 
she  had  fixed  her  affection  upon  him — somehow  the 
idea  aroused  a  vague  sweet  thrill  in  that  mortgaged 
heart  of  his — it  had  been  unsought. 

Guthrie,  eager  for  his  own  peace  of  mind  to  believe 
him,  drew  a  long  sigh  of  relief.  "  I  reckon  I  take  up 
sech  notions  jes  'kase  I  am  so  all-fired  jealous,"  he 
said.  Then,  with  a  half-laugh,  "Litt  never  actially 
said  nuthin'  nohow — though  she  air  ekal  ter  sayin' 
anything  jes  ter  make  me  mo'  jealous  'n  I  naterally 
be." 

A  mental  mutiny  possessed  Shattuck.  Was  not 
this  the  conclusion  that  he  had  labored  in  all  good 
faith  to  precipitate  ?  Where,  then,  was  his  satisfac 
tion  in  the  logical  result?  Why  should  he  cling  in 
tenacious  triumph  to  another  inference,  drawn  from 
her  fancy  that  it  was  he  who  had  lingered  outside  her 
window  to  hear  her  sing  ?  His  pulses  quickened  with 
the  thought  that  the  very  fallacy  wore  the  reflected 
hues  of  her  hope.  There  were  other  recollections 
pressing  fast  upon  him — that  she  had  remembered 
his  words,  had  recounted  his  strange  stories,  the  look 
in  her  eyes  when  she  had  caught  down  from  the  rack 
the  rifle  which  she  believed  had  endangered  his  life. 
Her  dream  had  in  some  sort  fulfilled  itself.  He  had 
long  appreciated  the  charm  of  her  unique  beauty,  her 
sprite-like  individuality.  His  feeling  suddenly  ex- 


345 

panded,  glowing  like  a  bud  into  the  rose  at  the  first 
warm  touch  of  the  sun. 

He  looked  down  at  Guthrie  all  oblivious  of  him, 
save  for  weariness  of  the  importunity  of  his  threats, 
his  constancy  of  woe,  his  confidences.  Shattuck 
was  absorbed  for  the  moment  in  his  own  emotion, 
and  the  world  had  suddenly  slipped  away. 

Abstractions  befitted  the  hour.  One  might  hardly 
think  to  see  it  again — that  sordid,  dusty,  daylight 
world,  full  of  commerce  and  hard  bargains,  and  rig 
orous  conventions  of  wealth  and  standing,  prosaic 
requisites  of  well-equipped  happiness.  It  had  rolled 
far  away  out  of  consciousness.  Upon  the  low  sum 
mits  of  the  thick  growths  of  the  orchard  gleamed  the 
lustre  of  the  dew  and  the  yellow  suffusions  of  the  ris 
ing  moon.  The  shadows  had  become  dense,  sym 
metrical,  sharply  outlined.  The  lilies,  their  chalices 
all  pearl  and  gold,  were  so  white  and  stately  and  tall 
as  they  stood  where  the  moonbeams  conjured  them 
from  out  the  darkness  of  the  old-fashioned  borders. 
The  light  drifted  through  the  fringes  of  the  pines, 
dark  themselves  as  ever ;  and  between  their  boughs, 
looking  to  the  east,  one  could  see  a  field  of  millet, 
glistening  with  all  the  charmed  illusions  of  a  silver 
lake.  And  how  the  mocking-bird  loves  the  light ! 
From  out  the  midnight  his  jubilant  song  went  up  to 
meet  it. 

Shattuck  remembered  the  moment,  the  scene,  many 
a  year  afterward,  the  absorption  that  mulcted  Guth- 
rie's  words  of  half  their  meaning,  and  more  than  half 
their  weight. 

"  I  hev  got  suthin'  else  ter  say,"  he  began,  un 
easily.  "  I  duti'no'  how  ter  tell  it  ter  ye,  nor  whether 


346        IN    THE 

I  oiighter  tell  it  at  all.  Ef  the  sher'ff  bed  ever  seen  ye 
he'd  know  he  war  a  fool ;  but  thar  war  a  man  robbed 
an'  kilt  on  the  road  that  night  whenst  Steve  Yates 
vamosed,  an'  folks  b'lieve  he  done  it." 

The  superficial  attention  with  which  Shattuck 
hearkened  to  this -deepened  the  next  moment. 

"  An'  ez  Steve  Yates  bed  no  idee  o'  goin'  till  ye 
sent  him,  the  sher'ff  thinks  ye  might  hev  sent  him  on 
that  y errand." 

An  inarticulate  exclamation  of  amazement,  of  in 
dignation,  broke  from  Shattuck's  lips.  It  was  not 
Guthrife's  intention  to  assuage  his  fears,  but  he  felt 
constrained  to  be  the  apologist  of  the  suspicion. 

"  Ef  he  bed  ever  seen  ye  wunst,"  he  observed, 
"he'd  know  better.  Of  course  he  ain't  never  seen 
ye." 

"  Of  course  not,"  Shattuck  assented,  shortly,  his 
confidence  renewed.  The  suspicion  touching  himself 
was  not  the  kind  of  thing  that  a  man  would  willingly 
consider,  even  in  its  most  hypothetical  and  tenuous 
guise.  That  it  should  be  seriously  entertained  was 
too  terrifying,  too  odious  an  idea  to  be  gratuitously 
harbored.  To  seek  to  throw  it  off  was  the  instinct 
of  self-respect,  of  self-preservation.  His  nerves  were 
still  sensible  of  the  shock,  but  his  effort  was  to 
make  light  of  it,  to  treat  it  as  the  coarse  pleasant 
ry  of  the  officer,  perpetrated  concerning  the  only 
stranger  within  the  vast  circuit  of  mountainous  coun 
try.  He  felt  no  gratitude  to  Guthrie  for  his  warning, 
as  the  mountaineer  had  expected  his  revelation  to  be 
construed.  He  looked  down  at  him  with  repugnance 
and  indignation  in  his  eyes,  and  albeit  Guthrie  was 
not  skilled  in  deciphering  subtle  facial  indications,  he 


COUNTRY.        347 

understood  the  sentiment  and  deprecated  it.  He  did 
not  pursue  the  subject  further.  He  east  about  in  his 
clumsy  way  to  make  amends  for  his  offence,  for  thus 
it  seemed  to  him  now,  of  repeating  the  obnoxious 
suggestion. 

"  I  be  powerful  sorry  I  kem  a-devilin'  ye  hyar  this 
time  o'  night  fur  nuthin',''  he  said.  "  I  reckon  ye 
think  I'm  plumb  gone  destracted  'bout  Litt,"  with  a 
pathetic  uplifting  of  his  long-lashed  eyes  to  his  inter 
locutor,  who  was  still  sitting  in  the  window.  "  Ye 
see  a  feller  like  me  is  mighty  forlorn,  especially  ez 
I  oughter  know  ez  Litt  ain't  one  o'  them  ez  kin  be  hed 
fur  the  askin'.  I  reckon  it  '11  all  come  right  arter  a 
while  ?"  wistfully  interrogative. 

"  I  reckon  so,"  Shattuck  was  constrained  to  reply. 

Guthrie  was  never  before  in  so  deprecatory  or 
gentle  a  state  of  mind.  "  I  feel  plumb  outdone 
whenst  I  remember  how  I  hev  talked  ter  you-uns,  ez 
be  so  powerful  perlite  an'  saaft-spoken  ter  all,  an'  con- 
siderin'  of  feelin's  " — Shattuck  winced  a  trifle — "  an' 
how  I  hev  gone  on  'bout  takin'  back  promises  an' 
sech.  Ye  know  I  don't  mean  it.  Ye  air  welcome 
ter  dig  ennywhar  ye  wanter  on  my  Ian',  an'  I'll  holp 
ye  enny  time ;  now,  ef  ye  like,"  Guthrie  protested 
with  an  effort  at  reparation.  "  I  dun'no'  but  what 
it's  ez  good  a  time  ez  enny.  Thar's  light  enough 
now,  an'  Mis'  Yates  mus'  be  off  her  gyard ;  she  mus' 
sleep  o'  nights — leastwise  take  cat-naps."  He  looked 
up  with  a  propitiatory  laugh  on  his  face.  "  An'  I 
ain't  'feard  o'  Baker  Anderson,  nor  Litt,  nor  even 
Moses." 

Shattuck  hesitated.  He  had  been  more  shaken 
than  he  would  have  acknowledged  even  to  himself  by 


348        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S 

the  crude  suggestion  that  his  name  was  for  a  moment 
connected  with  one  of  the  brutal  and  bloody  moun 
tain  crimes — a  mere  aesthetic  horror,  for  his  mind 
could  not  compass  the  atrocity  against  probability 
that  the  suspicion  should  be  seriously  harbored  by  an 
officer  of  the  law.  He  foresaw  a  night  of  sleepless 
irritability,  revolving  the  idea,  should  he  let  Guthrie 
go,  although  he  felt  that  it  should  fairly  be  consid 
ered  only  a  fit  subject  of  flout,  of  ridicule,  of  inex 
tinguishable  laughter.  It  was  rather  in  the  spirit  of 
defending  himself  against  his  own  capacities  for  self- 
torment  that  he  readily  turned  toward  the  prospect 
of  diverting  his  mind,  occupying  himself  with  alien 
interests. 

"  The  spade  an'  the  pick  mus'  be  right  thar  now," 
Guthrie  observed,  by  way  of  urgence.  "  Eph  say  he 
war  so  flustrated  by  Mis'  Yates's  shootin'  that  he  for 
got  ter  fetch  'em  back  home." 

Shattuck  looked  out  at  the  sober  solid  shadow  of 
the  "old  brick  house,  gable  and  chimney  and  porch, 
projected  upon  the  thick  herbage  of  the  yard  ;  the 
silver  green  sea  of  millet  glimpsed  between  the  dark 
branches  of  the  pines  ;  the  winding  road  that  led  the 
loitering  way  to  the  mountains.  "  I'll  get  my  hat," 
he  said. 

•  There  was  no  light  in  the  hall  save  that  which  the 
moon  cast  through  the  high  window  on  the  landing  of 
the  stairs.  It  seemed  fibrous,  skein-like,  pendulous, 
as  far  as  the  balusters  ;  then  it  fell  upon  the  hall  floor 
below  in  a  distinct,  motionless  image  of  the  sash  and 
pane,  all  white  and  lustrous.  By  its  radiance  one 
could  distinguish  a  hall  sofa,  long  and  hard,  covered 
with  tattered  black  hair-cloth ;  above  it,  hanging 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      349 

on  the  wall,  the  optimistic  old  barometer  that  once, 
perhaps,  had  been  weathervvise,  but  now  insisted  that 
all  signs  "  set  fair  "  ;  the  hall  tree,  whereon  Rhodes's 
hat  swung  in  its  place,  while  its  owner  lay  uncon 
scious  in  the  room  above,  the  door  of  which  Shattuck 
need  pass  with  no  solicitous  tread,  for,  bating  contin 
uance,  the  pygmies  themselves  slept  not  more  sound 
ly.  The  door  of  his  own  room  stood  ajar ;  the  moon 
light  and  the  sweet  perfumes  of  the  night  came  in 
through  its  open  windows.  It  had  a  sort  of  inhab 
ited  look,  full  of  comfortable  suggestions;  perhaps 
it  was  only  because  the  fatigue  of  the  day  was  begin 
ning  to  hang  somewhat  heavily  on  his  senses,  but  as 
he  entered,  he  stood  for  a  moment  irresolute. 

In  the  midst  of  the  dusky  uncertainty  of  sheen  and 
shadow  he  was  abruptly  startled  to  see  a  dim  figure 
suddenly  moving  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  room. 
He  advanced  a  step,  and  recognized  his  own  image  in 
the  indistinguishable  mirror.  It  had  a  strange,  weird 
effect,  this  half-seen  simulacrum  of  himself,  a  skulk 
ing,  uneasy,  secret  air  that  belied  its  principal,  and 
seemed  its  own  independent  attitude,  rather  than  re 
flected.  It  was  coercive  in  some  sort.  He  caught  up 
his  hat  from  the  table,  strode  down  the  hall  to 
Rhodes's  door,  and  thus  took  those  first  steps  des 
tined  never  to  be  retraced.  He  knocked  without  re 
sponse,  then  opened  the  door,  which  creaked  rasping- 
ly  upon  its  unoiled  hinges,  rusty  with  long  disuse  ;  and 
Guthrie,  waiting  at  the  window  below,  amongst  the  si 
lent  pensive  lustres  of  the  moon,  heard  the  ringing 
round  voice  of  Rhodes  break  forth  in  drowsy  protest, 
incongruous,  prosaic,  insistently  utilitarian.  The  in 
terval  was  short  before  Shattuck  ran  down  the  stair, 


350   IN  THE  "  STRANGER  PEOPLE' 

and  sprang  through  the  window,  drawing  the  sash 
down  behind  him,  and  then  the  two  set  forth  together. 

The  lilies  bloomed  at  the  gate,  their  chalices  full  of 
dew.  The  mocking-bird  sang  to  the  silent  moon. 
Far,  far  away  some  watercourse  had  lifted  loud  a  syl 
van  song  it  was  not  wont  to  sing  by  day. 

"  How  still  it  is !  Hear  Wild-Duck  Creek  on  the 
rocks !"  Shattuck  said  as  he  buckled  his  saddle  girth 
and  put  his  foot  in  the  stirrup.  The  eastern  windows 
were  all  aflare  with  a  white,  opaque  radiance  in  broad 
ened,  vitreous,  distorted  reduplications  of  the  moon. 
The  deep,  elongated  shadows  of  the  house  lay  among 
the  orchard  boughs.  He  looked  around  at  the  old 
building  when  once  in  the  saddle,  to  see  its  gables 
and  its  chimneys  rise  anew  against  the  clear  sky  and 
the  vague  outlines  of  the  mountains,  only  because  it 
pleased  him — its  solid  decency,  even  dignity,  in  its 
honest,  unornamented  validity,  touched  his  receptive 
aesthetic  sense — not  because  he  divined  that  he  was 
looking  his  last  upon  it.  How  finite  a  creature  is 
man ;  how  little  he  knows  his  way  along  these  earthly 
paths — adown  which  soon  or  late  he  goes  to  meet  his 
fate,  never  aware  how  near  its  approach — one  might  re 
alize,  thinking  on  a  time  like  this,  when  these  two,  all 
unprescient,  rode  together  to  the  burial-ground  of  the 
"  Leetle  People."  The  wind  was  in  their  faces — how 
fresh,  how  free  !  The  dew  glittered  in  the  air ;  the 
moon,  although  yellow  and  waning,  with  a  melan 
choly  presage  in  her  lessening  splendors,  made  the 
night  like  some  pensive,  softly  illuminated  day  of 
dreamtides.  Their  escort  of  mounted  shadows  gal 
loped  beside  them;  the  turf  stretched  out  into  long 
miles  behind  their  horses'  hoofs.  They  met  naught 


IN  THE  "STRANGER  PEOPLE'S"  COUNTRY.      351 

save  a  fox  scudding  over  a  stretch  of  sward  with 
stealthy  speed,  and  a  bundle  of  feathers  between  his 
jaws.  The  Yates  cabin,  that  Guthrie  was  first  to  see, 
a  dimly  glimmering  gray,  was  as  silent  and  still  as  if 
it  housed  no  life  within  its  walls — as  silent  and  as 
still  as  that  long  slope,  with  the  shadows  of  the  great 
trees  and  the  intervenient  sheen  of  the  moon  all 
adown  it,  where  the  Little  People  had  slept  this  many 
a  day,  knowing  no  waking. 

Shattuck  led  the  way.  He  had  turned  once  more 
to  the  tall  isolated  laurel-bush,  almost  of  tree-like  pro 
portions,  where  he  had  begun  his  labors  before.  He 
did  not  at  once  throw  himself  from  his  horse  ;  he  was 
taking  note  of  a  strange  thing,  something  that  he  had 
not  marked  heretofore.  That  mass  of  bloom  and 
foliage  rose  between  the  grave  whose  stone  coffin  his 
pickaxe  had  struck  and  any  possible  surveillance  from 
the  Yates  cabin.  A  doubt  for  the  first  time  stirred 
in  his  mind  whether  it  were  indeed  Adelaide  who  had 
fired  that,  murderous  rifle  ball.  The  next  moment 
the  absorptions  of  his  intentions,  his  opportunity, 
usurped  all  else.  He  flung  himself  to  the  ground, 
breathless,  elated,  with  an  electrical  energy  in  his 
muscles,  as  he  seized  the  pickaxe  on  which  Guthrie 
leaned  irresolute,  and  struck  the  first  blow. 

The  mountaineer  turned  his  softened  moonlit 
face  upon  him  with  a  slow  smile  in  his  eyes.  "  I  be 
glad  ye  hed  the  grit  ter  begin  ;  I  hain't."  The  dew 
had  bereft  his  long  curls  of  their  wonted  crispness ; 
they  hung  in  lengthened  tendrils  and  dishevelled  on 
his  broad  shoulders.  He  pushed  his  hat  far  back  on 
his  head.  His  heavy  spurred  boots  were  deeply 
sunken  in  the  long  grass.  He  slowly  placed  one 


352        IN    THE 

upon  the  spade  as  he  drove  it  down  into  the  mould. 
"  I  can't  holp  bein'  sorry  fur  the  Stranger  People,  ez 
they  air  leetle,  an'  air  dead,  an'  hev  been  waitin'  so 
long  in  the  dark  fur  the  las'  day  an'  thar  summons 
ter  rise." 

That  sharp  smiting  of  metal  upon  stone  jarred  the 
moonlit  quietude,  and  Guthrie  looked  up  with  dilated 
eyes,  his  hand  quivering  on  the  spade.  "  This  ain't 
no  common  grave,"  he  cried ;  "the  ground  is  loose !" 

He  was  not  given  to  logical  deductions  ;  he  did  not 
speculate ;  he  only  stood  staring  with  wonder ;  while 
Shattuck,  all  unaccustomed  to  the  practical  phenom 
ena  of  digging,  apprehended  only  cause  of  gratula- 
tion  that  the  investigation  was  to  be  the  less  hinder 
ed.  He  made  no  reply,  briskly  shovelling  out  the 
earth.  Presently,  with  a  silent  sign  to  Guthrie,  he 
reached  the  topmost  slab  of  the  strange  small  sar 
cophagus.  How  long  since  it  had  seen  the  light  that 
now  fell  upon  the  clay-incrusted  stone  !  When  it  was 
first  laid  here,  in  what  quarter  was  the  moon  ?  How 
often  had  it  waxed  and  waned  afterward,  unmindful  ? 
The  vibrations  of  the  cataract  filled  the  air  with  the 
full  pulsings  of  nature's  heart.  The  wind  —  wan 
derer  ! — came  and  went,  as  it  did  in  the  days  of  the 
pygmies.  A  flower  from  the  laurel — a  mere  tissue 
of  a  bloom,  so  fine,  so  fragile  of  texture — was  wafted 
down,  and  fell  upon  the  slab,  as  transitory,  as  futile, 
as  unheeded,  as  ye,  0  forgotten  Little  People  ! 

Then  the  slab  was  lightly  lifted,  albeit  with  trem 
bling  hands.  With  averted  eyes  Guthrie  shrank  back, 
and,  as  his  shadow  withdrew,  the  moon  shone  straight 
into  the  tiny  crypt,  and  Shattuck  leaned  forward  to 
look.  An  exclamation,  not  of  triumph,  of  horror, 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.        353 

smote  the  air  sharply.  The  mountaineer,  with  all  his 
pulses  aquiver,  looked  down  into  his  coadjutor's 
white,  startled  face.  Shattuck  was  kneeling  beside 
the  open  grave,  holding  the  coveted  jug  in  his  hand, 
full  of  silver  currency.  The  slow  mountaineer,  hardly 
mastering  the  idea,  turned  to  the  coffin.  If  it  still 
held  bones,  they  lay  beneath  a  pair  of  folded  saddle 
bags  that  filled  the  narrow  space. 

In  the  confusion  that  beset  his  senses,  he  did  not 
discriminate  the  thunderous  sound  that  rose  upon  the 
air:  the  flimsy  bridge  was  vibrating  under  the  reck 
less  gallop  of  a  score  of  horsemen.  He  only  knew, 
as  in  a  dream,  that  the  moonlight  was  presently  full 
of  swift  mounted  shadows  bearing  down  upon  them, 
Shattuck  still  with  the  jar  in  his  hand,  although  start 
ing  to  his  feet,  and  he  himself  leaning  upon  the 
spade.  The  air  reverberated  with  a  savage  cheer  of 
triumph.  The  sheriff  had  thrown  himself  to  the 
ground,  and  with  a  smile  of  scornful  elation  held 
his  pistol  at  Guthrie's  head. 

"  Ye  air  no  spy,  air  ye,  Fee  ?"  he  cried  out,  with 
ringing  sarcasm.  "  Got  a  mighty  good  reason  not  ter 
be.  An'  I  reckon,  my  pretty  Mister  Town-man,"  turn 
ing  to  Shattuck,  "ye  air  no  spy  nuther.  But  I'll  gin 
in,  Fee,  I  never  war  so  fooled  ez  I  hev  been  in  you- 
uns.  I  never  thunk  ter  set  a  thief  ter  ketch  a  thief 
this-a-way." 

Upon  the  word,  Guthrie,  into  whose  stunned  con 
sciousness  the  truth  had  gradually  sifted,  turned,  with 
a  flaring  color  and  a  fiery  eye,  and  dealt  the  officer 
a  terrible  blow  in  the  face  with  his  whole  force.  The 
next  moment  the  two  men,  their  arms  interlocked, 
were  swaying  to  and  fro  on  the  brink  of  the  open 
23 


354        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY. 

grave,  so  nearly  matched  in  strength  that  it  was  hard 
to  say  which  might  have  prevailed,  had  not  a  swift 
flash  of  red  light  sprung  out  in  the  pallid  moonlight, 
and  a  sharp  report  rung  upon  the  air.  They  fell 
apart,  the  officer  staggering  backward,  but  Guthrie 
sinking  down  upon  the  ground,  whence  he  would  rise 
no  more. 

A  mingled  clamor,  terrible,  full  of  fierce  meaning, 
was  suddenly  loud  upon  the  night.  The  shifting 
temper  of  the  populace  was  never  more  aptly  illus 
trated.  In  an  instant  the  officer  was  a  prisoner  in 
the  hands  of  his  posse,  and  his  posse  was  an  infuri 
ated  mob.  The  hoarse  cry,  "  String  him  up  !  string 
him  up !"  arose  more  than  once.  And  those  who 
spoke  calmly,  and  with  reason  and  argument,  were 
equally  formidable  as  they  called  upon  the  officer  to 
justify  his  deed. 

"  Air  this  the  law  ?  No  trial !  no  jury  !  Not  a 
minute  gin  him  to  explain  !  Call  him  thief,  an'  shoot 
him  down,  unarmed,  in  cold  blood !" 

They  pressed  about  him  with  eyes  hardly  less 
luminous  than  the  eyes  of  wolves,  hardly  so  gentle, 
while  the  officer  protested  first  self-defence. 

"  With  twenty  men  at  yer  back  ?"  "  An'  Outline's 
pistols  over  yander  in  the  holsters  on  his  saddle  ?" 
the  refutation  rang  out.  Then,  on  the  repetition  of 
the  terrible  cry,  "  String  him  up !"  the  effort  at  ex 
culpation  shifted  to  a  claim  of  the  accidental  dis 
charge  of  the  weapon.  And  still  the  fierce  clamor 
rose  anew. 

Meantime  Felix  Guthrie  lay  very  still  in  the  pale 
moonlight,  heedless  of  vengeance.  His  long  hair 
stretched  backward  on  the  dank  grass ;  his  face,  up- 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.       355 

turned  to  the  moonbeams,  was  calm  and  untroubled ; 
his  hands  were  listless  and  limp,  and  one  of  the 
younger  men  mechanically  chafed  them  as  he  now 
and  again  bent  over  to  seek  some  sign  of  life  in  the 
fixed  eyes. 

Shattuck  stood  bewildered,  looking  with  a  sort  of 
numb  stupefaction  at  the  prostrate  figure  upon  the 
grass,  and  then  at  the  agitated  and  furious  group 
about  the  sheriff.  The  catastrophe,  the  very  scene 
before  him,  he  could  not  realize.  He  felt  as  in  a  hor 
rible  dream,  when  the  consciousness  of  fantasy  opens 
before  the  oppressed  senses.  More  than  once  a  touch 
upon  his  arm  failed  to  rouse  him.  When  he  turned 
his  head  at  last  he  saw,  half  hidden  by  the  boughs  of 
the  blooming  laurel,  Lctitia  crouching  tremulously  in 
the  shadow.  He  did  not  wonder  how  she  came  there 
now,  nor  note  that  the  door  of  the  little  log  cabin  was 
open,  and  its  inmates,  roused  by  the  tumult,  were 
standing  on  the  porch.  He  only  saw  her  pale  elfin 
face  looking  out  from  among  the  blooms  as  if  she 
were  native  to  the  laurels.  Her  voice,  though  it  was 
but  a  whisper,  vibrated  with  urgency. 

"  Mount  an'  ride — ride  for  yer  life  !"  she  said  ;  she 
held  his  horse  by  the  bridle.  "  Thar'll  be  lynchin' 
'fore  day."  Her  tones  grew  steadier.  "Nobody 
knows  who,  nor  why." 

"  I'm  not  afraid  of  the  law,"  he  said,  indig 
nantly. 

"  This  ain't  law  !  Gin  yerse'f  up  in  town  ef  ye 
want  law.  But  ride  now — ride  off  in  the  shadder ! 
Ride  fur  yer  life  !" 

From  the  leafy  screen  she  stepped  forth,  throwing 
the  reins  over  the  head  of  the  horse,  which  was 


356       IN    THE 

frightened  and  restive,  and  held  the  stirrup  for  Shat- 
tuck.  The  clamorous  voices  of  those  angered  men 
rose  to  a  hoarse  scream,  and  the  agitated  tones  of  the 
officer,  pleading,  arguing,  justifying  himself,  were 
overborne.  Shattuck  put  his  foot  in  the  stirrup. 
The  next  moment  he  was  in  the  saddle.  As  he 
looked  down,  he  saw  Letitia's  face  distinctly  in  the 
moonlight  that  trickled  through  a  bough ;  some 
thing  of  that  love  of  hers,  which  Guthrie  had  at 
once  divined  and  denied  and  revealed,  was  expressed 
in  it. 

"  Ye'll  kem  back  again — some  day — some  day  ?" 
she  said. 

He  clasped  her  hand  as  she  lifted  it. 

"  Come  back  ?  I'd  come  back  if  it  were  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth  !"  he  protested. 

A  little  thing  to  say,  wrung  out  of  the  impassioned 
moment,  when,  in  good  sooth,  there  was  no  time  to 
measure  phrases  or  take  heed  of  the  cadences  of  the 
voice.  It  changed  the  world  for  her.  He  never  for 
got  that  radiant  face  in  its  sprite-like  beauty  amongst 
the  moonlit  flowers.  If  there  were  other  eyes  in  the 
world  so  tender,  so  pathetic,  so  exquisite,  he  never 
saw  them  before  or  afterward.  No  other  creature  of 
the  earth  so  looked  like  one  of  the  air.  Even  as  he 
sought  his  escape  through  the  shadows,  the  dull 
sound  of  his  horse's  hoofs  making  scant  impression 
in  the  midst  of  the  pawing  of  the  posse's  steeds,  he 
turned  to  catch  through  the  trees  a  flitting  glimpse 
of  her  light  dress,  her  volant  attitude,  as  she  sped 
silently  and  secretly  back  to  the  waiting  group  on  the 
porch.  Then  he  rode  away — rode  for  his  life,  as  she 
had  bidden  him. 


IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE'S  "    COUNTRY.         357 

And  lie  had  good  need  of  speed.  How  the  dis 
torted  idea  gained  credence  amongst  the  infuriated 
mountaineers  it  would  be  difficult  to  say.  It  might 
have  been  colored  by  the  circumstance  that  Guthrie 
could  logically  be  presumed  to  have  had  no  conni 
vance  with  the  robbers  whom  he  had  slain,  and  no 
knowledge  of  where  they  had  hidden  their  booty  ;  it 
might  have  been  suggested  by  the  crafty  sheriff  as  a 
diversion  of  attention ;  but  the  suspicion  presently 
permeated  the  group  that  Guthrie  had  surprised  Shat- 
tuck  in  the  act  of  securing  the  plunder  hidden  in  the 
pygmy  grave.  The  discovery  of  the  stranger's  flight 
added  the  semblance  of  confirmation,  and  lent  energy 
to  the  pursuit,  which,  leading  in  diverse  directions, 
served  to  disperse  the  posse,  and  thus  annul  that 
formidable  engine  of  the  law  which  the  strange  hap 
penings  of  the  night  had  turned  against  the  sheriff, 
who  had  himself  summoned  it  into  existence.  It 
was  doubtless  with  a  view  to  his  own  safety  that 
he  selected  for  his  share  of  the  search  the  road 
back  to  the  county  town,  and  with  no  expectation 
of  the  result  that  awaited  him  there.  The  impu 
tation  of  flight,  and  of  seeking  to  elude  the  re 
sponsibility  of  his  act,  which  might  otherwise  have 
attached  to  this  precipitate  return,  was  in  a  measure 
eliminated  by  the  fact  that  the  fugitive  had  arrived 
before  him,  and  had  already  surrendered  to  the  au 
thorities. 

It  was  a  time  to  which  Shattuck  could  never  look 
back  without  a  wincing  loathing  for  the  part  he  was 
constrained  to  play,  although,  in  truth,  he  fared  much 
better  than  he  could  have  hoped.  It  so  chanced  that 
the  justice  of  the  peace,  an  old,  gentle,  friendly  man, 


358       IN    THE 

whom  in  those  early  morning  hours  he  had  roused, 
had  himself  the  spirit  of  an  antiquarian ;  his  conver 
sation  was  replete  with  the  ancient  and  fading  tra 
ditions  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  and  he  could 
well  appreciate  the  strength  of  the  archaeological  in 
terest  which  had  led  Shattuck  to  open  the  pygmy 
grave.  It  seemed  in  the  magistrate's  estimation  an 
ample  justification  for  many  risks.  They  were  talk 
ing  of  these  things  quietly  in  the  justice's  office 
when  the  sheriff  joined  them.  To  his  prosaic 
amaze,  instead  of  details  of  the  operation  of  the 
law  indigenous  to  the  office  — points  of  examining 
trials  and  subpoenaings  of  witnesses,  of  arrest  and 
commitment — he  heard  legends  of  thq  old  Cherokee 
settlement,  Chota,  the  "  beloved  town,'7  city  of 
refuge,  where  even  the  shedder  of  blood  was  safe 
from  vengeance ;  of  the  mysterious  Ark  before  which 
sacrifices  were  offered ;  of  Hebraic  words  in  the 
Indian  ritual  of  worship ;  of  the  great  chieftain 
Oconostota,  and  his  wonderful  visit  to  King  George 
in  London ;  of  the  bravery  of  Atta-Culla-Culla ;  of 
the  Indian  sibyl  known  as  the  Evening  Cloud,  and 
the  strange  fulfilment  of  her  many  strange  proph 
ecies. 

Thus  submitting  his  motives  to  no  uncomprehend 
ing  utilitarian  arbitrament,  all  the  rigors  of  the  mis 
understanding  that  Shattuck  feared  were  averted, 
and  he  doubtless  owed  his  admission  to  bail  to 
this  fortuitous  circumstance.  That  he  never  carne 
to  trial  he  was  indebted  to  a  chance  as  friendly,  foi' 
Millroy,  before  his  death,  so  far  recovered  as  to  make 
a  sworn  statement  which  inculpated  only  Cheever  and 
the  horse-thief's  gang,  thus  relieving  Yates  as  well  as 


"  KVKRY    DAY   THAT    DAWNED.' 


359 

Shattuck  of  all  suspicion  of  complicity  in  the  murder 
and  the  robbery. 

The  mere  passing  remembrance  that  his  name  had 
ever  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  these  crimes 
was  like  the  thrust  of  a  knife  in  Shattuck's  heart  for 
years  thereafter,  most  of  all  as  his  enthusiasms  abated, 
and  the  more  serious  interests  of  life  were  asserted, 
and  his  worldly  consequence  increased.  Sometimes, 
amidst  the  wreaths  of  a  post-prandial  cigar,  a  sprite- 
like  face,  that  seemed  even  in  his  unwilling  and  dis 
affected  recollection  supremely  fair,  was  present  to 
him  again,  and  left  "him  with  a  sigh  half  pleasure, 
half  pain.  Further  than  this  his  words  were  naught, 
and  easily  forgotten. 

Easily  forgotten !  Every  day  that  dawned  to  Le- 
titia's  expectant  faith  held  an  hour  that  would  bring 
him.  Never  a  sunset  came  that  was  not  bright  with 
his  promise  for  the  morrow.  Down  any  curve  in  the 
road,  as  it  turned,  she  might  look  to  see  him.  For 
did  he  not  say  he  would  come  ? — and  so  surely  he 
would  !  The  years  of  watching  wore  out  her  life,  but 
not  her  faith.  And  she  died  in  the  belief  that  her 
doom  fell  all  too  soon,  and  that  he  would  come  to 
find  her  gone.  And  she  clung  futilcly  to  earth  for 
his  fancied  sorrow. 

Since  those  days  the  Little  People's  burying-ground 
is  doubly  deserted.  But  few  pass,  and  they  eye  it 
askance.  And  by  many  a  fireside  is  told  the  story 
of  the  heavy  doom  that  fell  on  all  who  carried  their 
schemes  therein  and  sought  to  know  its  secrets.  But 
the  birds  nest  in  its  deep  shades.  Every  year  the 
laurel  blooms  anew.  And  Adelaide,  looking  with 
pensive  eyes  upon  it  from  her  home,  happy  once 


360        IN    THE    "  STRANGER    PEOPLE  S        COUNTRY. 

more,   can    still    forecast   tlie    coming    of    that   fair 
spring  when  the  morning  .stars  shall  sing  together 
in   the    vernal   dawn   of  a  new   heaven   and   a  new 
earth,  and  this  mortality  shall  put  on  immortality. 
Meantime  the  Little  People  sleep  well. 


THE    END. 


BY  MARY  E.  WILKINS. 


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The  simplicity,  purity,  and  quaintncss  of  these  stories  set  them  apart 
in  a  niche  of  distinction  where  they  have  no  rivals. — Literary  World, 
Boston. 

The  reader  who  huys  this  book  and  reads  it  will  find  treble  his  money's 
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cate,  N.  Y. 

Miss  Woolson  is  among  onr  few  successful  writers  of  interesting 
magazine  stories,  and  her  skill  and  power  are  perceptible  in  the  de 
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novelist,  but  strikes  a  new  and  richly  loaded  vein,  which  so  far  is  all 
her  own ;  and  thus  we  feel,  on  reading  one  of  her  works,  a  fresh  sen 
sation,  and  we  put  down  the  book  with  a  sigh  to  think  our  pleasant 
task  of  reading  it  is  finished.  The  author's  lines  must  have  fallen  to 
her  in  very  pleasant  places;  or  she  has,  perhaps,  within  herself  the 
wealth  of  womanly  love  and  tenderness  she  pours  so  freely  into  all 
she  writes.  Such  books  as  hers  do  much  to  elevate  the  moral  tone  of 
the  day— a  quality  sadly  wanting  in  novels  of  the  time.— Whitehall 
Review,  London. 


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BY  IIOWAED   PYLE. 


THE  WONDER  CLOCK  ;  OR,  FOUR-AND-TWENTY  MARVEL 
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sitely  graceful ;  all  are  so  spirited,  so  vigorous,  so  admirable  in  design 
and  in  the  expression  of  the  faces  and  figures,  and  so  full  of  action, 
that  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  ihe  best. — Boston  Post. 

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THE  ROSE  OF  PARADISE.  Being  a  Detailed  Account  of  cer 
tain  Adventures  that  happened  to  Captain  John  Mackra, 
in  Connection  with  the  famous  Pirate,  Edward  England, 
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it  up  can  lay  down  until  it  is  finished. — St.  Louis  Republican. 

PEPPER  AND  SALT  ;  OR,  SEASONING  FOR  YOUNG  FOLK. 
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treats,  in  every  gradation  of  humor,  mirth,  and  sly  satire,  with  now 
and  then  a  touch  of  fine  sadness. — The  Critic,  N.  Y. 

It  is  beyond  compare  the  quaintest  and  most  entertaining  book  of 
the  season.  It  is  unique  in  style,  and  as  unique  in  its  contents,  the 
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BEN-HUE:  A  TALE   OF  THE  CHKIST. 

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Anything  so  startling,  new,  and  distinctive  as  the  leading  feature  of 
this  romance  does  not  often  appear  in  works  of  fiction.  . .  .  Some  of 
Mr.  Wallace's  writing  is  remarkable  for  its  pathetic  eloquence.  The 
scenes  described  in  the  New  Testament  are  re-written  with  the  power 
and  skill  of  an  accomplished  master  of  style. — A7.  Y.  Times. 

Its  real  basis  is  a  description  of  the  life  of  the  Jews  and  Romans  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  this  is  both  forcible  and  brill 
iant.  .  .  .  We  are  carried  through  a  surprising  variety  of  scenes;  we 
witness  a  sea-fight,  a  chariot-race,  the  internal  economy  of  a  Roman 
galley,  domestic  interiors  at  Antioch,  at  Jerusalem,  and  among  the 
tribes  of  the  desert;  palaces,  prisons,  the  haunts  of  dissipated  Roman 
youth,  the  houses  of  pious  families  of  Israel.  There  is  plenty  of  ex 
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Tribune. 

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terest  will  be  kept  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  the  novel  will  be  pro 
nounced  by  all  one  of  the  greatest  novels  of  the  day. — Boston  Post. 

It  is  full  of  poetic  beauty,  as  though  born  of  an  Eastern  sage,  and 
there  is  sufficient  of  Oriental  customs,  geography,  nomenclature,  etc., 
to  greatly  strengthen  the  semblance. — Boston  Commonwealth. 

"  Ben-Hur  "  is  interesting,  and  its  characterization  is  fine  and  strong. 
Meanwhile  it  evinces  careful  study  of  the  period  in  which  the  scene  is 
laid,  and  will  help  those  who  read  it  with  reasonable  attention  to  real 
ize  the*ature  and  conditions  of  Hebrew  life  in  Jerusalem  and  Ro 
man  life  at  Antioch  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  advent.— Examiner, 

N.Y. 

It  is  really  Scripture  history  of  Christ's  time,  clothed  gracefully  and 
delicately  in  the  flowing  and  loose  drapery  of  modern  fiction.  .  . ,  Few 
late  works  of  fiction  excel  it  in  genuine  ability  and  interest.—  N.  Y. 
Graphic. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  delightful  books.  It  is  as  real  and 
warm  as  life  itself,  and  as  attractive  as  the  grandest  and  most  heroic 
chapters  of  history.—  Indianapolis  Journal. 

The  book  is  one  of  unquestionable  power,  and  will  be  read  with  un 
wonted  interest  by  many  readers  who  are  weary  of  the  conventional 
novel  and  romance. — Boston  Journal. 


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14  DAY  USE 

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